UNIVERSITY  OF 

ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 

AT  URBANACHAMPAIGN 


^^^J^i2roia 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


t^mm 


I 


Life  and  Exploits 

of 

S.  Glenn  Young 

WORLD-FAMOUS    LAW 
ENFORCEMENT    OFFICER 


Compiled  by  a  friend  and  admirer  from 
data  furnished  by  the  hero,  with  the 
exception  of  the  last  chapter  which  was 
completed  by  another  of  the  hero's  inti- 
mate friends.  Dedicated  to  his  beloved 
and  martyred  wife,  Mrs.  S.  Glenn  Young. 


Published  by 
MRS.  S.  GLENN  YOUNG 

HERRIN,  ILLINOIS 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword    _ 5 

The  Man   from    Kansas _ 9 

Texas  Thrills  with  the  Rangers 19 

Muskogee  and  the  Little  "Traveling  Salssman" 25 

The  Tale  of  Three  Du  Quoin  Bandits 29 

The  Famous   Crawley   Coup 32 

Glenn  Attacks  the  "Bad  Jim"   Rosa  Gang 39 

The  Carnahans  _ 45 

Hunting   Uncle   Sam's   Deserters    with    "Pal" 47 

A  Mountaineer's  Word  is   Good 58 

The    Luke    Vukovic    Affair 62 

The  Gregorys  of  Pope  County 67 

Williamson  County   77 

The  Herrin  Massacre  _ 88 

Raid  Conditions  in  Williamson  County 91 

The  Misrepresentative  Press 98 

The  Story  of  the   Raids 107 

Another  Big  Saturday  Night  Raid 117 

February  the  Eighth — Act  1 — The    Kidnapping    137 

Act  2— The  Murder  of  Caesar  Cagle 146 

Act  3 — The  Herrin  Hospital  Barracks 157 

Bowen  and  the   Bonds 163 

The  Tragedy  of  the  Okaw  Bottoms 177 

Closing   Tributes    191 

Basic  Causes  of  Lawlessness _ 196 

Klan  Principles  Are  American  and  Christian 206 

The  Last   Chapter 213 

Leaders  of  Opposing  Factions  Meat 229 

Order  of  Funeral   Service  of  S.   Glenn  Young 239 

F\ineral  Rites  for  S.  Glenn   Young 240 

More  Details  of  Funeral 24i 

Obituary  251 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

S.  Glenn  Young  as  a  Governmsnt  S=?cret  Service  Agent 3 

The  Slain  Officer  a  Few  Weeks  Before  His  Death 8 

Williamson  County  Court  House,  Marion,  111 14 

S.  Glenn  Young  as  a  College  Student 24 

"Pal,"   Companion  of  S.   Glenn   Young 48 

"Pal"  as  a  Pack  Animal _ 51 

Park  Avenue,  Herrin,  Looking  North 76 

Herrin   City  Hall 80 

Giant   Steam   Shovel 89 

Funeral   of  Three  Union   Minei-s 90 

S.  Glenn  Young  Armed  anJ  Equipped 108 

Black   Hospital,   Henin _ 138 

Mr.  and  Mrs.   Youn-^   and  Their  Lincoln   Car 176 

Son   of  S.   Glenn    Young _ 179 

Maude  Simcox  Young.  "Taken  Since  Blinded 181 

Herrin  Street  Scene,  Showing  European  Hotel 225 

Soldiers  Guarding   Canary   Cigar  Store 230 

First    Baptist    Church,    Herrin 238 

Body  of  Young,  Lyi.ng  in  State 244 

Mrs.  S.  Glenn  Young  Sitting  at  Head  of  Casket 248 

La.st  Resting  Place  of  S.  Glenn   Young 253 


Glenn   Yoong,    1918,    as    He    Appeared    when    Operating:   as    a    Government 
Secret    Service    Agent    in    the    Blue    Ridge   Mountains. 


MAY  every  red  blooded  man 
and  woman  who  loves  Amer- 
ica above  every  land,  and  is  willing 
to  pay  upon  the  fields  of  war  or 
peace  the  price  required  for  the 
maintenance  of  her  liberty,  her 
institutions,  and  her  glory,  find  in 
the  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  S. 
Glenn  Young  new  inspiration  to 
carry  on. 


^ 


13 

Y76 


^  FOREWORD 

^  <<^     IKE  chapters  from  the  wildest  tales  of  frontier 

•S  I       days  when  life  was  cheap  and  handling  a  shoot- 

^  ■'^^  ing  iron  was  the  first  law  of  preservation ;  like 

^  stories  of  the  Wild  West,  where  a  sheriff  held  his  job 

•  because  he  was  quicker  on  a  trigger  than  the  outlaws 

^  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  and  where  nerve  and  a  stiff 

f^  spine  were  the  first  requisites  in  the  triumph  of  jus- 
tice— such  is  the  history  of  S.  Glenn  Young." 

Thus  wrote  a  contributor  to  the  Washington  Post, 
and  the  author  of  this  volume  believes  that  his  readers 
will  agree  completely  with  the  quotation  when  they 
have  read  the  story  of  him  whom  I  shall  memorialize 
in  the  chapters  which  follow.  The  exploits  of  the  hero 
have  been  so  thrilling  that  they  do  not  require  the 
embellishment  of  literary  art.  Their  interest  could 
scarcely  be  enhanced  by  the  garnishment  of  fiction,  so 
I  have  set  them  down  as  they  actually  occurred. 

In  launching  this  volume  upon  the  sea  of  public 
opinion,  the  writer  seeks  to  acquaint  the  American 
people  with  the  work  of  some  of  their  undecorated 
heroes,  undecorated  except  for  scars  such  as  S.  Glenn 
Young  bears  upon  his  person  as  life  tokens  of  bravery 
and  fidelity  to  duty.  My  chief  puiT)ose,  however,  is  to 
make  known  the  ungarbled  facts  about  Young  and  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  through  whom  Williamson  County,  Illi- 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


nois,  has  become  a  vastly  different  and  better  place  in 
which  to  live.  I  am  hopeful  that  through  the  media  of 
these  pages  I  may  succeed  in  removing  many  false 
ideas,  and  that  the  citizenship  of  this  county  will  be 
seen  in  a  better  and  truer  light  than  the  press  of 
America  has  ever  permitted  the  public  to  see  them. 

I  AM  NOT  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  KU  KLUX  KLAN. 
A  few  months  ago  I  was  strongly  opposed  to  that 
organization.  Fed  very  largely  by  infomiation  chan- 
neled through  newspapers  and  periodicals  strongly 
tinged  with  prejudice  against  the  secret  organization, 
I  naturally  partook  of  that  prejudice,  and  had  much  to 
say  about  "race  hatred",  ''religious  intolerance",  and 
"the  orderly  process  of  law". 

Today  I  am  entirely  disillusioned  in  regard  to  the 
alleged  teaching  of  the  great  American  organization. 
I  have  come  to  know  that  "race  hatred"  and  "religious 
intolerance"  have  no  place  in  the  hearts  of  true  Klans- 
men,  and  that  they  are  sincerely  anxious  and  willing  to 
work  through  the  orderly  processes  of  law  wherever 
they  exist.  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the  principles 
espoused  by  the  Klan  are  of  the  highest,  and  that  con- 
ditions which  have  developed  in  our  American  life  have 
demanded  just  such  an  organization  of  red  blooded  men 
to  bring  about  those  drastic  changes  which  must  be 
effected.  America  must  be  saved  and  saved  today  from 
those  malign  and  subtle  influences  which  threaten  to 
rob  her  of  much  of  the  strength  and  glory  which  have 
characterized  her  in  former  years,  and  I  believe  she 
will  be  saved,  for  we  are  seeing  today  a  new  birth  of 
patriotism. 

Certain  am  I  of  this,  that  in  spite  of  all  which  a  sub- 
sidized press  can   say  to  the  contrary,  the  work  in 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


Williamson  County  under  the  leadership  of  Young  and 
the  Klan,  has  been  greatly  worth  while,  and  that  if  the 
great  and  growing  organization  can  produce  elsewhere 
such  healthy  changes  as  have  been  and  ^vill  be  secured 
in  this  Illinois  county,  it  will  go  down  to  history  as  one 
of  the  very  greatest  organizations  of  patriotism  and 
reform  that  has  ever  exercised  itself  in  our  American 
commonwealth. 

That  no  mistakes  have  been  made,  I  do  not  affirm. 
They  were  made  in  France  even  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  That 
some  unworthy  men  hide  and  operate  behind  the  Klan 
paraphernalia  I  do  not  deny.  But  as  I  am  hardly  simple 
enough  to  repudiate  the  American  Army,  or  to  dis- 
credit its  work  because  there  were  some  crooks  in  that 
army,  neither  am  I  willing  to  repudiate  the  Klan  or  to 
discredit  its  work  in  Williamson  County  because  all 
men  in  the  organization  are  not  100  per  cent. 
Williamson  County,  Illinois,  July  17,  1924. 

VERITAS. 


The   slain   oflBcer   as   he   appeared   a   few    weeks    before   his   death,   showing   the 
pearl-handled  automatic  which  S.  Glenn  Young  used  to  avenge  his  own  death! 

Men  Wanted! 

"God  give  us  men.    A  time  like  this  demands 

Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith  and  ready  hands : 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 

Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 

Men  who  have  honor — men  who  will  not  lie; 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  scorn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking; 

Tall  men  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty,  and  in  private  thinking." 

xA.non. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


THE  MAN  FROM  KANSAS 

I  FEEL  like  introducing  the  hero  of  my  story  some- 
thing in  the  manner  of  the  colored  gentleman  over 
in  Hoboken,  N.  Y.,  who  was  introducing  to  a  negi'o 
audience  the  white  speaker  of  the  evening,  and  gar- 
nished his  introductory  remarks  with  that  eloquence 
of  which  colored  speakers  are  so  often  capable.  It  was 
somewhat  in  this  fashion  that  the  amused  pale  face 
was  presented  to  the  cloud  of  witnesses  and  auditors : — 

''Ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  heah  man  that's  come 
to  speak  to  youse  is  a  great  man;  he's  a  won'erful 
orator.  This  heah  man  that's  about  t'arise  and  address 
you  niggers  is  known  all  de  way  frum  the  horizon  to 
the  hosettin'  an'  from  Hoboken  to  hosannah  on  high." 

There  is  a  mystic  something  in  the  human  heart 
which  calls  for  adventure,  something  that  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  the  tame,  the  safe,  the  commonplace  or 
the  humdrum;  there  is  something  that  longs  for  the 
difficult,  that  which  is  full  of  risk  and  absorbing. 

Perhaps  it  was  this  ''call  of  the  wild"  that  led 
George  B.  Young,  father  of  the  hero  of  this  record,  to 
the  plains  of  Northwestern  Kansas  over  a  half  century 
ago,  there  to  engage  in  the  adventurous  life  of  a  ranch- 
man in  the  days  when  the  western  frontier  was  still, 
"wild  and  w^ooly",  officers  of  the  law  few  and  far  be- 
tween, and  each  ranch  a  miniature  arsenal.  In  addition 
to  his  ranch  activities  the  elder  Young  was  a  United 


10  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

States  Marshal,  in  which  branch  of  service  he  won 
considerable  distinction  for  bravery  and  achievement. 

In  speaking  of  his  father,  now  a  resident  of  Oregon, 
S.  Glenn  Young  pays  high  and  tender  tribute  to  his 
character.  **My  father's  reputation  for  honesty  and 
fair  dealing  with  his  fellow  men  w^as  perfect.  Although 
he  did  not  attend  church  regularly,  he  endeavored  al- 
ways to  practice  the  golden  rule,  and  though  a  ranch- 
man and  thrown  in  contact  with  men  who  were  very 
rough,  a  profane  word  was  not  in  his  vocabulary.  He 
did  not  know  the  taste  of  liquor  or  tobacco,  and  his 
morals  were  of  the  highest.  My  mother  was  the  first 
and  only  sweetheart  he  had,  and  to  her  he  was  loyalty 
itself  until  she  passed  away  in  eighteen  ninety-two.  In 
ninety-four  he  married  again,  and  his  life  with  this 
splendid  woman  was  a  joy  until  she  died  something 
over  a  year  ago.  I  do  not  believe  that  one  hundred 
years  v;ill  wipe  out  in  Western  Kansas  my  father's 
reputation  for  honesty  and  square  dealing  with  every 
one  with  v/hom  he  came  into  contact."  To  that  fine 
tribute  to  a  worthy  sire  he  adds  these  words;  "In 
every  task  that  I  have  undertaken  I  have  always  car- 
ried uppermost  in  my  mind  his  teachings — honesty, 
loyalty,  morality,  sobriety,  and  when  in  the  right 
never  to  give  up;  and  I  am  proud  to  say  that  I  have 
never  seen  the  time  when  I  have  violated  any  of  his 
teaching  along  those  lines". 

It  was  at  Long  Island  in  the  ''sunflower  state"  just 
a  trifle  under  forty  years  ago  that  Glenn  Young  first 
looked  out  upon  life — life  destined  to  be  so  full  for  him 
of  the  spirit,  the  dangers  and  the  tragedies  of  the  early 
plains.  Here  amidst  the  risk,  the  charm  and  the  wild- 
ness  of  the  shimmering  prairies,  surrounded  perpet- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 11 

ually  by  the  innumerable  sights  and  sounds  of  the 
prairie  vastness,  and  by  the  silences  that  brood  in  its 
depths,  he  spent  the  first  nineteen  years  of  his  spectac- 
ular career. 

There,  like  all  other  boys  reared  on  the  ranch,  it 
was  his  duty  to  feed  and  herd  cattle.  The  family  owned 
and  fed  each  year  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand 
head  of  Texas  steers,  driven  in  or  shipped  from  the 
Panhandle  country.  At  eight  years  of  age  Glenn 
herded  several  hundred  head  of  cattle  for  a  neighbor 
rancher  and  received  the  munificent  sum  of  thirty 
cents  a  day  for  twelve  hours  work.  Sometimes  these 
cattle  would  stampede,  and  all  the  lad  could  do  was  to 
ride  as  fast  as  his  pony  could  run  and  get  aw^ay  from 
in  front  of  them.  From  the  age  of  seven  to  twenty- 
one  he  almost  lived  in  a  saddle,  and  reports  have  it 
that  he  could  ride  a  bronk  or  steer  as  well  as  any  one 
in  that  country. 

Oflficers  being  few  on  those  Kansas  prairies,  men 
very  frequently  settled  matters  with  guns  or  fists. 
When  men  held  a  grudge  against  each  other,  if  it  was 
not  a  shooting  matter,  the  men  walked  to  the  middle 
of  the  street  and  there  fought  until  one  or  the  other 
was  exhausted,  but  seldom  if  ever  did  a  man  admit 
that  he  was  whipped.  Glenn  says,  "I  remember  well, 
and  carry  still,  many  scars  from  such  a  fight  I  had 
with  a  boy  at  Long  Island.  I  w^as  seventeen  years  old 
and  he  nineteen.  He  weighed  about  twenty  pounds 
more  than  I.  We  had  been  carrying  a  grudge  for  some 
time,  and  we  decided  to  fight  it  out  in  the  street.  We 
met  about  eight  o'clock  and  were  fighting  after  ten. 
We  would  fight  until  we  were  exhausted  and  the  men 
would  pull  us  away.    After  resting  for  ten  minutes  we 


12 LIFE     AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

would  start  again.  We  fought  this  way  for  over  two 
hours.  My  opponent  grew  his  nails  long  and  sharp 
for  several  weeks  purposely,  and  at  every  opportunity 
he  dug  them  into  my  face  until  there  was  not  an  un- 
marred  place  on  it.  Every  inch  of  my  body  was  bat- 
tered and  blue.  My  father  had  always  taught  his 
boys  that  when  one  is  in  the  wrong,  to  admit  defeat 
promptly,  but  when  in  the  right  to  admit  it  never  and 
to  fight  until  the  end.  We  fought  until  the  end,  and 
when  in  the  right,  I  have  tried  to  do  so  ever  since." 

That  heredity  and  environment  are  potent  factors 
in  moulding  and  shaping  the  life  all  are  agreed.  That 
they  exercised  great  influence  in  detemiining  the  life 
work  of  S.  Glenn  Young  as  a  law  enforcement  officer 
there  can  be  no  question.  His  expert  use  of  firearms 
is  an  inherent  qualification,  he,  in  a  sense,  having  been 
born  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand  instead  of  the  proverbial 
^'silver  spoon"  in  his  mouth.  There  on  the  Kansas 
prairies  the  boy  had  ample  opportunity  to  develop  skill 
with  those  weapons  which  have  since  saved  his  own 
life  many  times,  and  served  well  in  the  protection  of 
society  against  the  depredations  of  desperate  men  who 
feared  nothing  in  earth,  heaven  or  hell,  and  kept  their 
communities  in  constant  terror  by  day  and  night. 

Back  there  on  the  rolling  plains  of  Northwestern 
Kansas,  Glenn  laid  well  the  necessary  physical  founda- 
tion for  his  future  exacting  sei'vice,  and  learned  much 
about  the  life  and  methods  of  the  outlaw,  so  many  of 
whom  were  to  later  know  the  superiority  of  his  mind, 
alacrity  and  skill. 

If  there  is  one  thing  in  particular  that  a  man  learns 
in  the  Ranch  University  it  is  to  dominate  the  environ- 
ment with  its  natural  difficulties,  to  adapt  himself  to 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


circumstances  with  instant  decision  and  fearless  action. 
Glenn  Young  learned  those  lessons  well,  and  that  bit 
of  schooling  has  been  a  great  asset  in  a  host  of  thrill- 
ing expediences  since  those  days  down  among  the  cat- 
tlemen of  Kansas,  the  tang  of  which  has  ever  been  with 
him. 

If  you  think  that  these  rough  experiences  in  the 
school  of  nature  was  the  only  schooling  Young  received 
you  have  never  talked  with  him,  for  his  speech  and 
knowledge  not  only  indicate  a  good  schooling,  but  prove 
that  since  the  days  of  graduation  from  high  school 
Glenn  has  read  more  than  the  newspapers.  His  con- 
versation indicates  a  wide  range  of  reading.  In  a 
pleasing  way  he  is  able  to  converse  thoughtfully  on 
many  subjects  of  human  interest,  and  is  capable  of 
devoting  his  life  to  lines  of  activity  demanding  intelli- 
gence of  a  high  order. 

Within  the  last  few  months  I  have  heard  a  great 
many  people  express  the  wish  to  meet  S.  Glenn  Young, 
and  it  was  with  keen  anticipation  that  several  months 
ago  I  looked  forward  to  meeting  this  law  enforcement 
officer  who  had  become  known  all  over  the  nation  for 
his  daring  and  efficient  work.  Like  thousands  of  others 
I  had  been  mindful  of  the  work  of  Uncle  Sam's  boys 
**Over  There",  but  was  largely  ignorant  of  the  gigantic 
amount  of  important  and  courageous  work  accom- 
plished by  his  skillful  and  daring  sleuths  here  in 
America.  It  is  because  we  too  frequently  take  their 
work  as  a  matter  of  course,  failing  to  accord  to  them 
that  m.eed  of  praise  which  is  their  due,  that  I  take 
added  pleasure  in  recording  something  of  the  thrilling 
and  magnificent  work  of  Glenn  Young  in  West  Virginia, 
Georgia,  Tennessee  and  the  Carolinas,  and  to  tell  the 


14 


LIFE     A  X D     E X FLOI T  S     O  F 


Williamson   County   Court    House,   Marion,   III. 

unadulterated  facts  about  his  recent  service  in  William- 
son County  where  his  name  and  record  have  inspired 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  evil  doers. 

It  was  in  John  Whiteside's  Garage,  in  Marion,  that 
I  first  met  Glenn.  Sam  Stearns,  the  highest  officer  in 
the  Klan  organization  at  Williamson  County's  seat  of 
government,  being  the  one  to  introduce  me  to  the  man 
whose  life  story  I  hoped  it  might  be  my  privilege  to 
give  to  the  world  before  which  his  enemies  and  an  un- 
friendly press  were  always  traducing  him. 

His  Williamson  County  enemies  were  eager  for  his 
life.    To  "get  Young"  was  the  ambition  of  many  a  gun- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  15 

man  both  inside  and  outside  of  the  county.  A  reward 
had  indeed  been  offered  to  the  one  who  succeeded  in 
finishing  the  career  of  the  man  who  threatened  to  finish 
the  career  of  the  bootlegger,  gambler  and  corrupt  offi- 
cial in  the  county  which  had  become  notorious  through 
their  activities.  Little  wonder  that  I  expected  to  find 
guards  standing  at  the  door  of  the  garage,  and  to  be 
seai*ched  for  concealed  weapons.  Little  wonder  that 
T  expected  to  see  the  famous  Glenn  fully  armed  and 
watchful  of  strangers. 

There  were  no  armed  guards  without,  and,  upon 
entering,  my  first  impression  was  that  there  was  no 
Glenn  Young  within,  for  the  only  strangers  there  were 
a  winsome  looking  little  woman  of  about  twenty-five, 
and  a  quiet,  inoffensive  looking  man  of  forty  who  sat 
next  to  her  and  perused  the  columns  of  a  local  news- 
paper. I  was  surprised  when  Mr.  Stearns  introduced 
me  to  him  as  the  man  who  had  come  to  make  William- 
son County  "a  safe  place  for  democracy".  Was  this  the 
man  whom  Collier's  Weekly  had  classed  with  Alvin 
York,  America's  greatest  hero  over  in  France,  and 
whose  great  work  at  home  during  the  war  they  had 
compared  favorably  with  the  spectacular  and  heroic 
work  of  Alvin  York  in  the  battle  zone?  Was  this  the 
man  whose  photo  has  appeared  so  frequently  in  the 
nev/spapers  of  some  states  where  he  has  worked  that 
the  people  there  are  as  familiar  with  it  as  they  are  with 
those  of  their  owti  governors? 

The  man  whom  I  shook  hands  with  that  afternoon 
and  have  since  come  to  know  is  5  feet,  7  inches  tall  and 
•weighs  approximately  145  pounds,  thus  classifying 
with  the  insurance  companies  as  an  ''average"  man. 
He  is  strongly  built,  and  has  slightly  bowed  legs,  the 


16  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS     OF 

result  of  much  riding  in  the  saddle.  His  arms  are  long 
and  hands  well  kept,  with  very  long  fingers.  His  eyes 
are  full  orbed  and  of  a  peculiar  shade  of  bluish  gi'ay. 

As  you  talk  to  him  you  are  impressed  with  the 
quality  of  his  voice  as  well  as  the  courtesy  and  straight- 
forwardness of  his  manner.  His  voice  is  very  pleasing, 
being  manly  and  yet  tender  in  quality,  though  it  can  be 
harsh  on  occasion  with  a  very  positive  influence  upon 
law  violators.  His  speech  is  delightfully  free  from 
the  slightest  evidence  of  egotism  or  big  headedness. 
His  fame  as  an  officer  of  the  law  has  had  no  more  effect 
upon  him,  it  would  seem,  than  bouquets  thrown  at  the 
Egyptian  Sphinx.  Glenn's  middle  name  is  *'Modesty". 
The  spirit  of  "How  me  an'  Bill  won  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo" is  foreign  to  him,  as  many  a  reporter  has  dis- 
covered when  wresting  from  him  the  story  of  some  of 
the  exploits  which  have  earned  for  him  the  reputation 
of  "the  greatest  law  enforcement  officer  in  America". 

"How  did  j^ou  do  it  Young?" 

"Well,  I  just  did  it,  that's  all." 

This  reluctance  to  talk  about  his  achievements  is 
evidenced  by  an  excerpt  from  a  story  about  him  printed 
in  the  Atlanta  Constitution,  one  of  the  great  news- 
papers of  the  South,  some  time  ago. 

"How  did  you  get  that  scar?"  asked  the  reporter. 

The  officer  grinned  as  he  replied,  "I  don't  like  to 
talk  about  such  things — I  didn't  get  it  by  shaving". 

"Were  you  ever  shot?" 

"Yes,  I  think  so  but  never  fatally". 

"How  many  men  have  you  been  forced  to  shoot?" 

"I  could  not  swear  that  I  ever  shot  anyone.  I  never 
saw  a  bullet  hit". 


RAIDER    B.    GLEXX    YOUXG  17 

**How  did  you  feel  when  you  went  to  the  cabin  after 
the  Crawley  feudists  and  Blaine  Stewart?" 

"I  felt  hungry",  said  Young,  "I  hadn't  had  a  bite 
to  eat  for  several  days." 

Who  can  wonder  that  the  reporter  gave  up,  conclud- 
ing that  he  had  found  one  man  who  had  never  known 
fear  and  was  incapable  of  feeling  it? 

The  Knoxville  Times,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  writes  as  fol- 
lows:— *'The  officer  does  not  admit  that  he  is  a  good 
shot,  but  when  he  fought  a  revolver  duel  with  'Bad 
Jim'  Rose  and  won  he  confronted  the  best  shot  among 
the  mountaineers  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Rose  was  a  sure 
shot,  and  his  neighbors  say  that  Young  is  the  only 
man  who  ever  made  him  bite  the  dust." 

Added  to  the  magnificent  courage  and  splendid 
modesty  of  S.  Glenn  Young  are  other  qualities  which 
have  deeply  impressed  men  of  high  office  and  reputa- 
tion in  American  life,  as  well  as  the  host  of  friends  in 
humbler  w^alks  who  have  come  to  know^  him. 

Here  is  a  paragraph  received  just  a  day  or  so  ago 
from  the  oldest,  and  by  many  regarded  as  the  most 
famous  secret  service  man  in  the  United  States,  Henry 
E.  Thomas,  of  Charlotte,  N.  C.  After  speaking  in  the 
most  glowing  terms  of  Glenn  Young's  work  down  in 
that  section  during  the  w^ar,  Mr.  Thomas  adds  these 
words  out  of  years  of  intimate  acquaintanceship,  'In 
all  the  dealings  that  I  had  personally  with  Mr.  Young 
I  found  him  square  and  honest,  and  unafraid.  He 
never  defaulted  in  anything  that  he  thought  was  right 
or  his  duty". 

Congressman  W.  C.  Hammer,  of  Asheville,  N.  C, 
says  of  him,  "He  is  not  only  a  man  of  high  character 


18  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


and  integrity,  but  a  man  of  courage,  absolutely  fear- 
less, yet  has  the  necessary  discretion  and  prudence". 

C.  H.  Haynes,  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  writing 
in  the  "Home  Sector",  pays  high  tribute  when  he  says, 
'*I  have  watched  Young's  work  with  interest.  He  is  a 
courageous  man,  fearless  yet  discreet,  and  the  best 
officer  that  I  have  ever  known". 

Many  other  high  government  officials  have  endorsed 
S.  Glenn  Young  and  his  work  in  similar  statements, 
and  it  is  of  this  man,  who  during  the  war  exploded 
several  plots  against  the  United  States,  and  brought 
in  over  1,700  army  deserters  who  sought  shelter  in  the 
mountains  of  the  South,  that  I  will  now  try  to  tell  you. 
If  you  are  not  thrilled,  as  I  have  been,  with  the  story 
of  his  daring  deeds,  your  pulse  is  a  slower  pulse  than 
mine.  If  you  do  not  recognize  in  him  **a  real  man", 
then  you  are  a  poorer  appraiser  of  manhood  than  the 
Muskogee  bully  of  whom  I  will  tell  you  shortly,  and  of 
the  thousands  of  friends  in  every  state  of  the  Union 
who  have  come  to  know  him. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  19 


TEXAS  THRILLS  WITH  THE   RANGERS 

Well  schooled  in  the  life  of  the  plains,  strong  in 
body,  an  expert  in  the  use  of  guns  and  thoroughly  at 
home  in  the  saddle,  Glenn  was  no  tenderfoot,  when  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  went  to  the  "Lone  Star 
State",  and,  through  United  States  Congressman  Shal- 
lenberger,  of  Nebraska,  secured  a  position  on  the 
Rangers.  Here  he  spent  nearly  a  year,  during  which 
time,  he  says,  ''My  work  was  a  series  of  thrills". 

In  those  days  Texas  was  not  as  tame  as  it  is  today. 
"Wild  and  Wooly"  was  a  mild  way  of  expressing  the 
character  of  the  life  along  the  border  to  which  Young 
was  assigned.  It  was  infested  with  cattle  rustlers, 
mostly  greasers,  and  American  cowpunchers  who  had 
gotten  in  bad  on  this  side  of  the  line,  and  made  their 
headquarters  south  of  the  river.  With  them  life  was 
an  exciting  game  in  which  dodging  State  Rangers, 
robbing,  pillaging  and  killing  were  all  in  a  day's  work. 

Glenn  soon  became  known  as  "lightnin'  on  the 
draw",  and  it  was  said  of  him  that  when  he  cut  loose 
with  a  gun,  why  "the  figger  on  the  ace  of  spades  would 
cover  his  cluster  of  bullet  holes".  Such  a  reputation 
traveled  rapidly  ahead  of  a  man  down  in  that  country, 
and  it  was  one  of  the  safest  reputations  to  have,  for,  as 
Zane  Grey  has  said  of  Texas  in  those  days,  it  was  "the 
land  of  the  draw",  where  among  hunted  men,  there 
isn't  anything  calculated  to  arouse  respect  like  a  slick 
hand  with  a  gun. 

During  the  months  spent  in  Texas  there  was 
scarcely  a  day  when  Young  was  not  in  the  saddle,  chas- 
ing some  gang  of  cattle  rustlers,  and  hardly  a  week 


20  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     O  F 

that  he  did  not  have  a  run-in  with  some  outlaws,  many 
of  them  hardened,  coarse,  ignorant  and  bestial  men 
who  killed  for  the  love  of  killing,  and  who  stole  largely 
because  they  craved  money  to  gamble  and  drink,  men 
who  w-ere  defiant  of  death,  having  no  thought  of  a 
world  to  come. 

Here  too,  in  this  rendezvous  of  outlawed  criminals, 
he  ran  up  against  more  than  one  defaulter,  forger  and 
promoter,  who  had  slipped  in  from  the  North,  hoping 
for  safety  in  the  Texas  wilds,  for  which,  however,  many 
of  them  were  constitutionally  unprepared. 

One  night,  not  long  after  becoming  a  "Lone  Star 
Ranger''  Young  received  orders,  just  after  he  had 
ridden  into  the  border  town  of  Laredo,  to  proceed  to 
a  certain  place  about  thirty  miles  up  the  river,  there 
meet  two  other  rangers  and  report  with  them  to  the 
foreman  of  a  certain  ranch.  This  man  was  to  furnish 
them  with  information  in  regard  to  the  whereabouts  of 
a  notorious  gang  of  cattle  thieves,  who  had  been  operat- 
ing in  the  district,  and  who  but  a  short  time  before 
had  driven  off  about  thirty  head  of  his  cattle. 

Glenn  says,  in  describing  this  enterprise; — ''I  left 
Loredo  about  dusk.  Traveling  steadily  for  three 
hours,  I  came  within  a  short  distance  of  the  place 
where  I  was  to  meet  the  other  officers,  when  suddenly 
shots  rang  out.  I  had  been  fired  upon  by  three  mounted 
men.  Not  being  able  to  see  who  the  newly  met 
strangers  were  I  thought  possibly  they  were  officers, 
for  at  that  time  most  of  us  working  along  the  border 
were,  when  meeting  up  with  rustlers,  shooting  first 
and  asking  questions  second. 

"As  soon  as  the  two  men  took  a  couple  of  shots  my 
way  they  rode  off  to  my  right  about  one  hundred  yards 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  21 

and  pulled  up.  One  of  them  hollered  ^Amigo',  and  of 
course  I  knew  immediately  that  they  were  'greasers'. 
Having  only  been  in  the  country  for  a  short  time  I  was 
only  acquainted  with  a  few  words  of  Mexican,  but 
*Amigo'  happened  to  be  one  of  them,  so  I  hollered 
'Amigo'  back  at  them  and  they  started  to  ride  toward 
me. 

*'When  they  had  covered  half  of  the  intervenmg 
space  I  called,  'Halt,  who  are  you  ?'  For  reply  they  im- 
mediately fired  upon  me  and  started  away  on  the  run. 
I  had  taken  my  carbine  from  my  holster  and  just  as 
they  fired  I  cut  loose  at  them.  The  first  shot  missed, 
and  I  fired  again.  The  man  nearest  to  me  fell  from  his 
horse.  Riding  after  the  others  as  fast  as  my  horse 
could  carry  me  I  almost  rode  over  the  man  who  lay 
stretched  upon  the  ground.  It  took  fully  a  half  mile 
of  fast  riding  to  get  within  range  of  the  fleeing  grea- 
sers who  were  on  fast  mounts  and  were  expert  horse- 
men. When  I  came  within  shooting  distance  I  fired 
two  or  three  shots  at  the  swiftly  moving  figures  before 
I  lost  them. 

"Going  to  the  appointed  meeting  place  I  met  the 
other  officers  and  told  them  all  that  had  happened.  Like 
myself  they  too  were  confident  that  the  desperadoes 
were  the  very  men  that  we  were  sent  to  get.  We  im- 
mediately proceeded  to  the  ranch  and  told  them  what 
had  happened,  and  after  telling  the  foreman  about 
my  *run-in'  with  the  greasers  he  and  four  of  his  cow- 
punchers  accompanied  we  officers  to  the  scene  of  the 
shooting.  We  arrived  there  just  at  daybreak  and  found 
the  dead  greaser  just  where  he  had  fallen.  Upon  him 
we  found  two  Bisley  six-guns  that  had  been  stolen 
from  the  ranch  foreman  about  a  year  before. 


22  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

**From  that  spot  we  went  on  over  a  small  hill  in  the 
direction  which  the  other  two  men  had  taken  in  their 
flight.  About  half  a  mile  beyond  the  place  where  I 
had  lost  sight  of  them  we  found  another  greaser  shot 
through  the  body.  He  was  what  the  boys  used  to  call 
a  'good  greaser'.  This  one  proved  to  be  the  ring- 
leader of  the  gang  we  were  sent  to  get,  and  had  a 
reward  on  his  head,  'dead  or  alive'. 

"Dividing  our  number  we  now  started  in  every 
direction  looking  for  the  greaser's  horses.  These  we 
found  about  a  mile  away.  One  of  them  was  shot 
through  the  rump  and  we  killed  it.  The  fellows  all 
had  fine  saddles.  One  of  these  I  kept  and  gave  another 
to  one  of  the  cowpunchers.  They  all  had  Winchester 
riflles  45-70's,  and  each  two  Bisley  six-guns.  We  tied 
one  of  the  greasers  across  the  front  of  my  saddle,  his 
feet  to  the  saddle  girth  on  one  side,  and  a  rope  around 
his  neck  to  the  saddle  girth  on  the  other  side.  One  of 
the  other  officers  did  the  same  with  the  other  man  and 
we  took  them  to  a  rancher's  abode  and  left  them  there 
as  his  guests  until  the  coroner  came,  and  after  looking 
upon  them  pronounced  them  'good  greasers'.  The 
last  I  saw  of  them  was  when  they  were  lying  on  the 
ground  near  a  couple  of  shovels  in  the  hands  of  a  couple 
of  cowpunchers.  They  went  the  way  that  most  of  the 
cattle  rustlers  ultimately  went  in  those  days. 

"A  few  days  after  this  episode  I  was  sent  to  San 
Antonio  and  wasn't  there  two  hours  before  a  greaser 
tried  to  stick  a  knife  in  me.  He  made  a  lunge  at  my 
body,  but  I  succeeded  in  catching  his  aiTn  in  time, 
though  not  before  he  had  tickled  me  with  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  of  the  point.  The  blade  struck  my 
breast  bone  and  he  then  jei'ked  it  out  and  tried  to  re- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  23 

peat  the  trick,  but  I  beat  him  to  it.  This  happened  in 
front  of  the  Buck  Horn  saloon,  and  the  bartender  came 
out  and  invited  me  in  to  wash  up.  This  greaser  who 
had  thus  attempted  my  life,  we  found  later  was  the 
third  member  of  the  gang  that  I  had  run  in  with  near 
the  border  a  few  days  before.  He  had  followed  me  the 
entire  distance  without  me  once  getting  a  sight  of  him. 

''From  this  time  on  to  when  I  got  a  place  as  Deputy 
Marshal  in  Oklahoma,  I  had  about  a  dozen  run-ins 
with  cattle  thieves  and  the  results  were  never  fatal — 
to  me. 

"I  will  always  remember  with  appreciation  the  cow- 
punchers  whom  I  met  while  in  Texas.     If  they  were 

your  friend,  they  would  go  to  h for  you  and  chisel 

in  the  door  to  get  in.  They  would  give  a  friend  the 
last  cent  they  had  in  their  pockets  or  the  last  drop  of 
blood  in  their  veins.  They  were  one  hundred  per  cent 
loyal  to  the  ranch  for  which  they  were  riding  and  would 
fight  until  they  died  for  their  boss.  But  if  you  were 
their  enemy,  the  best  thing  you  could  do  was  to  pull 
stakes  for  you  would  certainly  have  to  show  your  speed 
on  the  draw." 


Photograph   of  S.   Glenn   Young,   taken   while  a   student   at   Marquette   Medical 

ColleKe. 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOUNG  25 


MUSKOGEE  AND  THE  LITTLE 
"TRAVELING  SALESMAN" 

ONE  MORNING  over  in  the  peaceful  and  prosper- 
ous town  of  Muskogee,  an  inoffensive  looking 
little  traveling  salesman  might  have  been  seen. 
Other  inoffensive  looking  little  traveling  salesmen  had 
come  to  this  Oklahoma  town,  in  fact  they  have  been 
making  it  every  day  for  years.  But  this  particular 
salesman  was  rather  unusual.  He  left  quite  an  im- 
pression in  the  community,  especially  upon  one,  Spec 
Hamlin  by  name,  who  listed  as  a  cab  driver,  and  inci- 
dentally a  "town  bully". 

I  don't  know  whether  Hamlin  was  given  the  appel- 
lation of  "Spec"  before  or  after  meeting  the  quiet, 
modest  looking  little  salesman,  but  I  have  no  doubt 
that  when  S.  Glenn  Young  had  finished  his  sales  talk 
with  Hamlin,  the  said  gentleman  felt  more  in  keeping 
with  the  nickname  which  he  bore. 

Behold  the  conqueror  as  he  marches  in  triumph 
upon  his  conquering  way,  until  at  an  unexpected  hour 
a  fledgling  David  appears  and  knocks  Goliath  into  a 
cocked  hat.  Not  that  this  little  salesman  was  a  fledg- 
ling. Far  from  it.  He  had  been  well  seasoned  in  the 
mountains.  He  was  a  regular  dynamo  of  activity  and 
as  strong  and  agile  as  the  mountaineers  with  whom 
he  had  tested  physical  prowess  time  and  time  again, 
never  failing  to  register  a  win. 

On  this  occasion  it  was  a  deputy  marshal  disguised 
as  an  innocent  and  inoffensive  "drummer"  who  roused 


26 LIFE     ASP     EXPLOITS     OF 

the  ever  ready  ire  of  the  inflammable  **Spec",  bringing 
about  his  downfall  and  a  host  of  congratulations  from 
all  sides  at  police  headquarters  for  the  versatile  Young. 

Poor  defeated  ''Spec".  His  hour  had  struck.  His 
wild,  blood  splashed  career  was  at  an  end.  The  "town 
bully"  had  taken  the  count.    It  was  this  way: 

While  entering  a  restaurant  Glenn  accidentally 
brushed  against  Hamlin.  Of  course,  from  childhood  up, 
''Spec"  had  always  considered  that  a  "casis  belli",  an 
occasion  for  war,  and  so  without  waiting  for  prolonged 
negotiations,  he  whirled  around  vvith  an  oath  and  said, 
"Don't  you  brush  against  me".  At  the  same  time  he 
struck  Young  a  stinging  blow,  one  which  would  have 
sent  many  men  down  for  the  count.  But  Glenn  is 
something  above  the  average,  and  the  blow  didn't  phase 
him.  For  reply  he  landed  a  good  stiff  wallop  between 
the  bully's  eyes,  felling  him  to  the  ground.  The 
doughty  little  officer  was  on  top  of  him  immediately, 
a  master  of  the  situation,  though  with  clothes  some- 
what crimsoned  by  the  fountain  which  he  had  opened 
up  in  his  fractious  foe. 

Letting  Hamlin  rise  and  regain  his  lost  equilibrium, 
the  deputy-salesman  thoughtfully  inquired  of  the 
rather  dilapidated  "Spec"  whether  or  not  he  had  had 
enough.  He  then  turned  to  walk  away,  but  as  he  did 
so  "cabby"  struck  him  again,  from  behind.  As  Glenn 
had  only  used  up  one  punch  he  had  two  or  three  more 
left  for  use  in  emergency.  This  seemed  to  be  just  such 
an  occasion,  so  he  landed  another  gingery  one  on  the 
bully's  carcass,  again  laying  him  close  to  mother  earth. 
Regaining  his  feet  quickly,  however,  Hamlin  drew  a 
revolver  and  would  have  soon  finished  the  argument 
with  that  weapon  had  not  the  active  "salesman"  taken 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  27 

it  promptly  away  from  him.  As  he  disarmed  the  would- 
be-assassin,  one  of  Hamlin's  friends  struck  Young  over 
the  head  with  the  butt  of  his  revolver.  Glenn  kept 
working  on  ''Spec",  however,  knocked  him  down, 
handed  his  gun  back  to  him  and  told  him  to  ''beat  it". 

Like  a  whipped  cur  that  slinks  back  to  its  kennel 
with  its  ears  all  a-droop  and  its  tail  between  its  tremb- 
ling pedestals,  "Spec"  Hamlin  slunk  away.  He  had 
established  a  reputation  for  having  been  arrested  more 
than  any  other  man  in  Muskogee  for  fighting  and  dis- 
turbing the  peace. 

It  is  a  fairly  safe  guess  that  "Spec  Hamlin"  has  a 
great  respect  for  that  inoffensive  looking  little  sales- 
man "who  happened"  into  town  that  morning,  even 
though  he  succeeded  in  disturbing  his  dignity  and  rob- 
bing him  of  his  fistic  laurels. 

Perhaps  this  severe  licking,  and  the  first  "Spec" 
had  ever  received  was  prophetic  of  his  future  career, 
for  his  picture  recently  appeared  in  the  July,  1924,  num- 
ber of  McClure's  Magazine,  and  his  present  address  was 
given  as  Atlanta,  Ga.,  care  of  the  State  Penitentiary. 
He  is  serving  time  for  swindling  a  Texas  gentleman, 
who  ran  down  and  apprehended  Hamlin  and  a  score  of 
other  crooks  who  were  robbing  people  throughout  the 
country. 

It  v\'as  down  in  this  same  fine  State  of  Oklahoma, 
where  Glenn  served  a  two  year  term  as  Deputy  United 
States  Marshal,  that  he  received  the  marks  which  bear 
convincing  testimony  to  the  dangerous  occupa- 
tion which  he  has  pursued.  It  is  the  jagged  scar 
across  his  throat,  inflicted  when  a  half-breed  Indian 
attacked  him  in  a  restaurant.  He  had  arrested  a 
counterfeiter  and  put  him  in  a  calaboose  at  Tulsa  for 


28  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

safe  keeping.  From  there  he  went  to  Muskogee,  the 
scene  of  Hamlin's  humiliation,  and  was  sitting  at  a 
table  in  the  cafe,  when  Joe  Lopez,  a  brother  of  the 
half-breed  counterfeiter,  came  in,  moved  stealthily  over 
behind  where  Glenn  was  sitting,  and  di'awing  out  an 
ugly  razor  slashed  him  across  the  throat,  all  but  sever- 
ing the  jugular  vein.  The  attacking  party  was  buried 
on  the  following  day.  Young  was  taken  to  the  hospi- 
tal where  he  spent  three  weeks  waiting  until  the  well 
nigh  fatal  wound  was  healed. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  29 


THE  TALE  OF  THE  THREE  DU  QUOIN  BANDITS 

TO  HAVE  three  guns  of  large  caliber  look  you  in 
the  face  at  4:00  o'clock  or  any  other  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  is  not  an  enviable  experience.  Most 
of  us  would  feel  just  a  trifle  nervous  under  such  con- 
ditions, and  would  be  \\illing  to  make  most  any  con- 
cession possible  in  order  to  secure  a  change  of  environ- 
ment. But  with  S.  Glenn  Young — well,  it's  different, 
that's  all.  Somehow  or  other  his  nervous  reactions 
are  not  just  the  same  as  with  other  folks. 

It  was  Saturday  morning,  and  exactly  ten  minutes 
past  four,  when  a  ''traveling  salesman"  stepped  out- 
side of  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  in  Du  Quoin,  Illinois, 
intending  to  take  the  early  morning  train  to  Benton. 
Three  guns  and  three  young  men  were  at  the  door  to 
welcome  him  into  the  out-of-doors,  and,  incidentally 
to  relieve  him  of  the  $500  which  he  carried  in  his 
pocket.  But  Glenn,  the  deputy  camouflaged  as  a 
modest  drummer,  decided  that  if  they  were  to  have 
and  enjoy  that  substantial  roll  they  would  certainly 
have  to  do  more  work  than  they  had  done  so  far  that 
morning — an  eight  hour  day  for  them,  or  no  money 
from  the  boss. 

Bang!  No,  it  wasn't  a  gun  this  time,  but  the 
salesman's  fist  that  cut  the  air  and  landed  with  pre- 
cision upon  the  anatomy  of  the  biggest  of  the  trio, 
bringing  the  whole  structure  to  the  sidewalk.  Quickly 
backing  into  the  hotel.  Young  procured  a  big  Colt 
automatic  revolver,  and  thus  armed  proceeded  to  chase 


30 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

the  bandits  who  were  now  seeking  safety  in  flight,  • 
evidently  figuring  that  they  had  pushed   the  wrong 
button  when  they  put  in  their  early  morning  order. 

Half  a  mile,  half  a  mile,  half  a  mile  onward  ran  the 
ring  leader  and  one  other  of  the  noble  fraternity.  It 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  races  ever  staged  in 
Du  Quoin,  where  good  races  are  frequent  features. 
It  was  a  race  in  which  the  disguised  Federal  Officer, 
the  modest  little  salesman,  demonstrated  that  he  could 
use  his  feet  as  well  as  his  fists  to  excellent  advantage, 
and  could  get  in  on  the  money  in  either  form  of  com- 
petition. 

Yard  after  yard  was  steadily  gained,  until  at  last, 
realizing  that  the  race  was  against  them,  the  two 
bandits  took  refuge  beneath  a  porch,  where  a  few  mo- 
ments later  Glenn  apprehended  them  as  much  out  of 
wind  as  they  were  out  of  luck.  They  were  duly  regis- 
tered in  the  local  "cooler"  where  they  ate  breakfast 
a  la  bastile. 

Later  in  the  day  the  third  young  man  was  found 
in  meditative  mood,  quietly  resting  his  wayward  feet 
in  the  hay  of  a  local  barn.  Taking  pity  upon  his  lone- 
liness the  local  officer  who  discovered  him  conducted 
the  youthful  soldier  of  fortune  to  the  place  where  his 
two  friends  awaited  him. 

Thus,  for  once  at  least,  did  the  ''early  bird"  fail  to 
get  the  ''early  wonn".  Thus  did  three  young  men 
start  the  day  all  wrong,  as  they  had  evidently  started 
life  all  wrong  a  few  years  before. 

Investigation  revealed  that  the  two  men  who  were 
caught  and  identified  by  Young  had  registered  at  two 
hotels,  the  American  and  the  St.  Nicholas,  evidently 
anxious  to  make  sure  that  they  would  not  miss  their 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  31 

intended  victim.  The  names  which  appeared  upon  the 
American  Hotel  register  were,  Robert  Dixon,  Jack 
Hawley,  and  Leroy  Ray.  The  men  were  all  under 
twenty-five  years  of  age. 

When  Glenn  was  chasing  the  fellows  whom  he  ulti- 
mately caught  under  the  porch,  he  discharged  two  shots 
at  one  of  them.  Just  after  he  fired  the  second  shot 
the  man  stumbled  and  fell.  Young's  heart  jumped 
into  his  mouth,  for  he  had  no  desire  to  kill  the  man. 
He  was  relieved  in  no  small  measure  when  the  bandit 
scrambled  to  his  feet  and  continued  the  race  to  the 
tape.    He  had  simply  stumbled. 

The  prisoners  were  transferred  to  the  jail  at  Pinck- 
neyville,  from  which  place  they  tried  to  saw  their  way 
out.  It  was  later  found  that  the  trio  were  ex-convicts. 
States  Attorney  Layman  sent  them  over  the  road  to 
Chester. 

Perhaps  this  volume  will  find  its  way  into  the  hands 
of  these  three  young  men.  They  will  doubtless  be  much 
interested  to  hear  more  about  the  young  "travehng 
salesman"  with  whom  they  did  business  that  morning 
in  Du  Quoin.  He  sincerely  hopes  that  they  are  still 
getting  dowTi  to  business  early — but  to  a  better  line 
of  business  than  that  of  holding  up  innocent  and  in- 
offensive salesmen. 


32  LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 


THE  FAMOUS  CRAWLEY  COUP 

IF  YOU  have  any  doubt  as  to  there  being  one  cor- 
puscle floating  in  the  blood  of  S.  Glenn  Young  that 
is  not  thoroughly  game,  or  that  there  is  one  ounce 
of  his  145  pounds  which  is  not  superlatively  courageous, 
listen  to  the  story  of  the  snaky  trail  which  he  followed 
through  the  snows  of  the  great  Smoky  Mountains, 
under  a  thin  moon  in  search  for  the  two  Crawley  boys 
and  Blaine  Stewart,  whom  he  captured  single  handed 
at  4:30  in  the  morning  at  the  foot  of  the  Bald  Peak 
that  stretches  up  toward  the  clouds  fifteen  miles  from 
Alcoa,  Tennessee,  and  forty-five  miles  from  Knoxville. 

At  no  time  in  Young's  spectacular  career  has  his 
nei*ve,  resourcefulness,  skill,  deteiTnination  and  courage 
been  more  remarkably  displayed  than  in  the  arrest  of 
the  Crawleys  and  the  *'Bad  Jim"  Rose  gangs.  Glenn 
himself  considers  these  the  most  thrilling  captures  he 
has  made  during  twenty  years  of  experience. 

Leaders  and  members  of  both  of  these  gangs  were 
wanted  by  the  authorities  for  a  long  list  of  murders 
and  other  serious  depredations.  High  rewards  were 
offered  for  their  capture  ''dead  or  alive".  And  let  me 
digress  just  here  long  enough  to  tell  my  readers  that 
during  Young's  government  service,  he  has  arrested 
men  upon  whose  heads  rewards  approximating  §150,- 
000  have  been  placed.  As  a  government  officer  is  not 
permitted  to  accept  rewards  offered  by  the  Federal 
authorities,  however,  he  has  not  profited  materially 
by  his  remarkable  labors,  except,  of  course,  by  the 
salary  paid  to  him  for  the  discharge  of  his  official 
duties. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


The  Crawleys  came  into  the  limeHght  and  attracted 
wide  attention  when  they  shot  Deputy  United  States 
Marshal  Tom  Dixon  to  death  at  Blairsville,  Georgia, 
on  January  9,  1919.  The  conckiding  chapter  of  their 
notorious  history  was  finished  when  Young,  who  at 
that  time  carried  two  Colt  .45's  and  a  Springfield  rifle 
during  his  waking  hours,  single  handed  took  three 
members  of  the  marauding  band  after  they  had  eluded 
two  companies  of  soldiers  as  well  as  numerous  deputies 
and  revenue  officers  for  several  days.  Glenn  brought 
them  all  in  alive,  confiscating  their  guns  and  a  large 
stock  of  ammunition. 

Immediately  after  the  slaying  of  Dixon,  a  Colonel 
and  a  detachment  of  picked  soldiers  from  the  5th  In- 
fantry of  Fort  McPherson,  Ga.,  scoured  the  mountain 
fastnesses  of  Northwestern  Carolina,  the  most  rugged 
section  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  in  an  effort  to 
locate  the  assassins.  Surrounding  the  mountain  home 
of  the  Crawleys,  the  soldiers  captured  Felix  and  Frank 
Crawley  and  Gordon  Bowers,  but  George  and  Decatur 
Crawley  and  Blaine  Stewart,  the  most  dreaded  of  the 
gang  of  feudists,  escaped. 

Days  and  nights  of  vain  searching  extended  into 
weeks.  The  efforts  of  the  soldier  posse  to  find  the  des- 
perate trio  were  fruitless.  It  seemed  as  though  the 
mountains  had  opened  up  and  swallowed  them  com- 
pletely. Then  it  was  that  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  ordered  Glenn  Young  to  capture  the 
Crawleys,  and  the  dauntless  little  officer,  always  eager 
for  a  difficult  task,  took  up  the  trail  which  had  been 
lost  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains — and  he  took 
it  up  alone. 


34  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

The  mountaineers  of  that  section  had  by  this  time 
come  to  fear  and  respect  Young.  He  had  estabhshed 
among  them  the  reputation  for  being  a  man  of  his 
word,  and  when  the  news  spread  through  the  moun- 
tains that  he  had  determined  to  capture  the  Crawleys, 
the  people  knew  that  he  would  not  return  without  them. 
They  knew  that  the  sturdy  ''go  getter"  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  would  get  them,  or  that  they  would 
get  him.  It  was  to  the  finish.  When,  just  a  few  days 
later,  he  marched  the  much  sought  and  much  feared 
trio  into  Atlanta,  there  were  fully  25,000  people  at  the 
depot  to  give  him  an  ovation,  and  who  will  say  that  he 
was  not  worthy  of  it. 

Dressed  in  the  uniform  of  a  soldier — a  uniform 
worn  by  all  special  agents  and  differing  only  from  an 
enlisted  man's  in  the  fact  that  he  wore  laced  boots,  a 
leather  coat  with  a  leather  vest  underneath,  and  had 
no  cord  on  his  campaign  hat,  Glenn  started  on  the 
trail.    In  telling  the  story  he  says : — 

"I  knew  that  the  mother  of  the  Crawley  boys  was 
living  near  Bald  Mountain,  and  that  they  thought  a 
great  deal  of  her.  I  first  went  to  Fontana,  N.  C,  and 
crossed  the  Yellow  creek.  While  I  was  there  I  caught 
two  deserters  named  Williams  and  sent  them  back 
under  a  guard.  I  went  on  by  myself.  I  had  my  Spring- 
field rifle  and  two  pistols,  a  .45  Colt  and  a  .45  automatic. 

'The  first  day  I  was  out  I  met  up  with  a  bunch  of 
surveyors  and  spent  the  day  with  them  and  started 
out  that  night.  I  always  travel  at  night.  People  up 
there  will  see  you  if  you  go  in  the  day  time  and  moun- 
tain news  travels  like  telephone. 

"I  started  out  on  horseback  and  made  about  seventy- 
five  miles  a  day.    But  when  I  got  within  about  ten  miles 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 35 

of  where  I  figured  the  Crawleys  were,  I  butted  into 
Bald  Mountain.  I  couldn't  cross  there  so  went  back  to 
Asheville,  then  to  Knoxville,  then  to  Murrayville,  and 
finally  to  a  point  about  five  miles  from  Alcoa,  Tenn. 

"There  I  struck  the  trail  of  the  Crawleys  and 
tracked  them  on  foot  through  the  mountains.  The 
snow  was  heavy,  and  I  trailed  them  by  their  footprints 
in  the  snow. 

**I  worked  all  that  night,  laid  up  the  next  day,  and 
came  up  on  the  Crawleys  the  next  morning.  I  couldn't 
ask  anybody  for  information  because  they  were  all 
friends  of  the  Crawleys,  or  feared  them  too  much  to 
keep  my  presence  a  secret.  I  couldn't  even  let  my- 
self be  seen.  All  I  could  do  was  to  follow  their  tracks 
in  the  snow. 

'Tor  six  nights  I  pushed  on,  often  forced  to  follow 
the  same  sort  of  trail  as  on  the  first  night  of  the  chase. 
At  4:30  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  seventh  day,  I 
reached  a  cabin  where  I  knew  they  were  hiding.  I 
simply  pushed  open  the  door.  Blaine  Stewart  was 
asleep  on  the  floor.  The  other  two  boys  were  sitting 
in  front  of  the  fireplace.  Rose  Crawley  was  there  too." 

''Didn't  they  offer  any  resistance?"  one  naturally 
asks. 

"They  couldn't,  I  had  the  drop  on  them.  I  had  a 
.45  in  each  hand  leveled  to  shoot.  My  rifle  was  swung 
over  my  shoulder,  and  I  warned  them  that  any  sus- 
picious move  would  prove  fatal  to  some  of  us." 

"Just  how  did  you  go  in  ?"  I  asked  this  courageous 
man. 

"I  simply  shoved  open  the  door",  he  answered.  "I 
searched  thirty  or  forty  houses  a  week  in  looking  for 
deserters,  and  if  you  know  a  man's  inside  the  only 


36 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

thing  to  do  is  to  get  in  and  get  the  drop  on  him  before 
he  gets  it  on  you,  and  if  you  keep  your  eyes  open  and 
your  wits  about  you  there's  no  danger. 

**I  didn't  handcuff  them  at  once,"  he  continued,  *'but 
made  them  sit  down  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  table 
and  then  we  had  breakfast.  Rose  Crawley,  for  whose 
capture  a  government  reward  had  also  been  offered, 
sat  at  the  head  of  the  table  and  acted  as  hostess  on  the 
occasion.  They  were  all  very  hospitable,  though  we 
didn't  have  much  breakfast,  just  sowbelly,  coffee  and 
biscuits.  But  it  tasted  good,  for  I  was  desperately 
hungry,  not  having  had  very  much  to  eat  for  a  week, 
and  I  wasn't  in  the  best  physical  shape  to  begin  with. 

"After  breakfast  I  handcuffed  the  two  Crawleys  to- 
gether, putting  on  the  handcuffs  myself.  I  then  took 
them  up  to  see  their  mother.  Rose  stayed  behind,  and 
just  before  we  left  she  gave  me  twenty  dollars  with 
which  to  hire  a  lawyer  for  them.  I  don't  know  what 
sort  of  a  lawyer  she  expected  me  to  get  for  $20.00.  All 
three  of  them  looked  pretty  badly  worn.  They  had  no 
soles  to  their  shoes,  and  they  seemed  used  up.  I  bought 
them  some  shoes  at  the  first  town  we  reached. 

"Rose  Crawley",  he  added,  "is  about  twenty-eight 
years  old  and  not  a  bad  looking  woman.  But  she  was 
pretty  rough.  Their  mother  was  seventy  years  old,  and 
sick  in  bed.  When  I  took  the  boys  up  to  the  small  log 
house  where  the  aged  mother  lived  I  stood  in  the  door- 
way while  they  knelt  down  and  kissed  the  old  worn 
face.  I  turned  my  face  away  as  the  mother  laid  her 
hands  on  the  heads  of  her  two  boys  and  blessed  them. 
There  were  no  tears  shed,  for  no  matter  how  their 
hearts  ache  the  mountain  people  are  stoics.  The  two 
men  got  to  their  feet,  and  all  four  started  for  the  small 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  37 

railway  station  from  which  we  journeyed  to  Knox- 
ville,  where  the  prisoners  were  placed  in  the  care  of 
Sheriff  W.  T.  Gate  and  later  transferred  to  Atlanta 
penitentiary." 

Oh,  the  wonder  of  mother  love.    What  a  magnet  of 
attraction  it  has  been  all  down  through  the  centuries! 
Down  in  the  hearts  of  the  very  worst, 
If  we'd  stir  to  the  deeper  under  loam. 
We'd  find  e'en  there  the  ceaseless  thirst 
For  mother  and  home. 

Glenn  Young  well  knew  that  sooner  or  later  the 
Crawleys  would  seek  their  mother's  cabin,  because  the 
love  of  parents  lies  deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  mountain 
people,  whether  they  be  outlaws  or  not. 

When  word  of  the  Crawleys'  capture  was  received 
over  the  wire  by  United  States  Marshal  Howard 
Thompson,  of  Atlanta,  he  immediately  sent  back  word, 
"Tell  Young  that  I  want  to  shake  his  hand  and  hug 
him  too."  He  stated  that  he  would  meet  the  train  on 
which  the  prisoners  were  to  be  taken  to  Atlanta.  "I 
am  as  glad  as  Young  himself  can  be",  added  the  official. 

As  soon  as  the  Crawleys  and  Blaine  Stewart  were 
taken  to  the  Knox  County  jail  they  were  placed  in  the 
cell  opposite  the  jail  office.  Here  they  were  undressed 
by  the  officers  in  order  that  a  thorough  search  of  their 
persons  could  be  made.  This  was  done  to  make  sure 
that  they  had  no  saws  or  other  means  of  effecting  an 
escape. 

The  prisoners  chatted  with  each  other  occasionally 
and  appeared  to  be  quite  unconcerned  about  their  fate. 
The  men  were  small  and  thin,  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  been  ^'scouting"  since  early  in  January. 
Their  faces  were  not  those  of  the  typical  criminal  class. 


38  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

Each  man  was  dark   of  complexion,   and   they   were 
typical  mountaineers. 

When  asked  if  he  would  get  the  reward  offered  for 
the  capture  of  the  Crawley s,  Young  answered, — 

"What  reward?"  adding  that  he  had  heard  some- 
thing about  a  reward,  but  that  he  had  not  been  inter- 
ested to  the  point  of  making  an  inquiry.  "I  was  after 
the  men  themselves  and  not  the  reward",  he  declared. 

Duty  rather  than  dollars  has  moved  S.  Glenn 
Young  in  his  work  as  a  government  officer,  and  that  is 
one  of  the  reasons  why  his  feelings  against  corrupt 
officials  who  put  dollars  before  duty,  and  gain  before 
principle,  are  so  intense. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  39 


GLENN  ATTACKS  THE  "BAD  JIM"  ROSE  GANG 

THE  closest  call  that  Young  has  ever  had  was 
probably  that  received  through  the  Indian  half- 
breed  in  Muskogee,  Oklahoma.  But  perhaps  none 
of  his  many  experiences  with  moonshiners,  and  outlaws 
of  every  variety,  have  been  more  exciting  than  the 
pitched  battle  around  the  home  of  Tom  Jones,  five  miles 
Northwest  of  Unaka  in  Cherokee  County. 

It  was  early  in  the  morning  of  January  24,  1919, 
when  a  posse  of  seven  officers,  led  by  S.  Glenn  Young, 
attacked  "Bad  Jim"  Rose  and  his  gang  of  outlaws  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  mountain  fastness,  believing 
themselves  entirely  safe  from  arrest.  In  this  fight 
Rose  was  shot  twice  and  captured,  and  Deputy  Sheriff 
McClure,  of  Murphy,  N.  C,  was  badly  wounded.  Over 
200  shots  were  fired  in  the  battle.  The  bandits  used 
high  powered  rifles,  and  the  officers,  fearing  to  wound 
women  in  the  house,  used  their  revolvers  instead  of 
rifles. 

"Bad  Jim"  Rose,  head  of  the  gang,  and  reported  to 
be  the  worst  feudist  of  the  South,  and  charged  \dth 
nine  murders,  most  of  which  were  committed  from  am- 
bush, died  some  months  later  from  wounds  in  the 
stomach  and  shoulder  received  in  this  clash  with  the 
officers  of  the  law. 

Fearing  that  his  mountain  friends  might  seek  to 
rescue  him  from  the  jail  at  Muii)hy,  the  outlaw  was 
taken  to  Asheville  upon  being  captured.  The  vigor  and 
determination  of  the  man  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 


40 LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS     OF 

although  severely  wounded  he  tried  to  saw  his  way 
out  of  jail  two  days  after  he  was  shot. 

When  taken  Rose  was  under  indictment  for  the 
murder  of  "Old  Man  Wilson".  Wilson  was  shot  down 
in  front  of  his  home,  near  Unaka,  while  standing  on 
the  front  porch  washing  himself.  Rose,  from  the  side 
of  a  mountain  a  half  mile  away,  fired  the  shot  from  his 
ai-my  rifle  that  passed  through  the  heart  of  Wilson. 
The  latter  dropped  before  the  eyes  of  his  wife,  to  whom 
Rose  spoke  as  he  descended  the  mountain.  Rose  is  said 
to  have  threatened  to  get  Wilson,  because  the  latter's 
son  shot  and  killed  Rose's  brother  during  a  quarrel. 
Wilson's  son  had  been  shot  in  the  leg.  The  Wilson 
murder  was  the  last  held  against  Rose.  WTien  captured 
the  outlaw  was  forty-five  years  old  and  had  a  wife  and 
five  children  whom  he  had  not  supported  for  five  years. 
He  was  an  expert  riflle  shot,  and  numerous  mysterious 
deaths  were  laid  at  his  door.  He  gained  a  reputation 
as  an  outlaw  and  a  killer,  and  became  greatly  feared 
throughout  the  country  for  miles  around.  He  became 
a  political  issue  in  Cherokee  County  and  one  sheriff 
was  indicted  because  he  would  not  serve  a  warrant 
upon  Rose  charging  him  with  murder.  Thus  the  out- 
law's reputation  spread,  and  no  one  dared  go  up  against 
him.  If  Rose  took  an  antipathy  toward  one  of  his 
neighbors  he  would  go  to  the  man  and  tell  him  to  move 
from  that  section.  The  victim  thus  warned  would  move 
away  rather  than  risk  a  bullet  from  Rose's  rifle. 

I  have  seen  the  gun  which  this  desperado  carried. 
There  are  notches  in  it  cut  in  the  forearm.  These 
notches  on  this  army  rifle  were  made  by  Rose  and  rep- 
resent men  whom  he  shot  with  that  weapon.  He 
claimed   to   have   bought  the   rifle   and   five   hundred 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  41 

rounds  of  ammunition   from   an  army   deserter  who 
came  to  the  mountains. 

Neighbors  told  how  Rose  went  continually  armed. 
He  even  carried  his  rifle  to  church  with  him  and  leaned 
it  against  a  pew  when  he  attended  services  occasionary- 
•When  he  was  shot  and  captured  by  Young  and  his 
assistants,  Rose  wore  a  silver  star  bearing  the  words, 
^'Special  Detective".  It  seems  that  he  used  it  occasion- 
ally when  approached  by  suspicious  looking  strangers 
to  whom  Rose  represented  himself  as  a  government 
officer  looking  for  deserters. 

Bennie  Jones,  a  member  of  the  gang,  who  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  January  25th,  afterward  sur- 
rendered himself  at  Murphy  and  was  sent  to  Asheville. 
From  here  he  was  sent  with  a  party  of  other  army 
deserters  to  Camp  Wadsworth,  where  they  were  turned 
over  to  the  military  authorities  for  court  martial. 
Jones  was  slightly  wounded  during  the  battle,  a  glanc- 
ing bullet  having  struck  him  in  the  back.  The  bullet 
entered  beneath  the  skin  and  dropped  out  after  Jones 
had  gone  to  Murphy  to  surrender. 

Let  me  go  back  and  tell  somewhat  more  specifically 
about  the  noted  capture  of  Rose,  who  had  been  declared 
an  outlaw  by  Judge  Shaw  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  by 
Judge  James  E.  Boyd  in  Federal  Court,  a  high  price 
being  placed  upon  his  head  "dead  or  alive". 

The  section  where  Rose  and  his  gang  operated  was 
ideal  for  the  perpetration  of  their  crimes,  being  deep 
in  the  mountains  and  very  difficult  of  access  to  any  but 
those  who  had  spent  years  in  that  section  and  were 
acquainted  w4th  every  inch  of  the  ground.  People  liv- 
ing in  the  country  were  in  continual  dread  of  the  out- 


42  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

laws  who  pillaged  whatever  they  wanted  and  took  by 
force  what  was  held  from  them. 

The  battle  which  brought  the  gang  to  eaith  de- 
veloped during  the  search  for  the  Crawleys.  Young  at 
first  thought  that  the  two  Crawley  brothers  and  Blaine 
Stewart  had  joined  the  Rose  gang  in  the  mountains 
near  Murphy.  At  that  place  Young  organized  a  band 
consisting  of  five  men,  including  Deputy  Marshal 
:\Iason  and  Deputy  Sheriff"  ^McClure  of  MuiT>hy. 

The  little  posse  took  up  a  trail  across  the  moun- 
tains just  above  the  Tennessee  boundary.  On  a  Thurs- 
day afternoon  they  came  into  a  region  known  as  Jef- 
frey's Hell,  the  rendezvous  of  the  Rose  outlaws.  It  was 
deep  in  the  mountain  fastnesses,  and  with  indistinct 
trails  leadmg  through  the  wooded  peaks  and  valleys. 
A  short  distance  beyond  Jeffrey's  Hell,  the  posse  picked 
up  the  Rose  gang  trail.  They  made  camp  for  the  night, 
prepared  to  advance  upon  the  gang  at  daylight. 

They  broke  camp  just  at  dawn,  and  the  party, 
headed  by  Young,  started  on  their  quest.  They  had 
not  gone  far  before  a  lookout  from  the  gang  saw  the 
party,  and  a  rifle  shot  rang  out,  followed  by  an  alarm 
and  more  shots.  Members  of  the  notorious  Rose  gang 
were  in  view,  and  the  battle  was  on. 

Advancing,  the  members  of  the  posse  brought  their 
repeating  riflles  into  play  and  poured  a  fusillade  of 
shots  at  the  mountaineers.  Suddenly  Deputy  Marshal 
McClure  fell  to  earth.  A  bullet  from  Jim  Rose's  army 
riflle  had  smashed  a  bone  in  the  oflftcer's  right  arm.  A 
second  later  Rose  himself  fell  with  a  bullet  wound  in 
the  abdomen.  When  their  leader  fell  other  members 
of  the  gang  immediately  scattered  and  were  speedily 
lost  in  the  mountain  fastnesses. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  43 

Leaving  one  man  with  McClure  and  the  wounded 
bandit,  the  rest  of  the  posse  separated  and  took  up 
different  trails  in  pursuit  of  Rose's  fleeing  companions. 
Late  the  same  day  Young  sui-prised  four  of  them,  and 
the  others  were  all  apprehended  within  the  next  twenty- 
four  hours.  Some  of  them  offered  serious  resistance 
and  Young  was  forced  to  shoot  two  of  them.  ''Both  of 
the  men  whom  I  wounded  recovered",  says  the  hero 
of  the  fray,  ''and  the  four,  along  with  the  others 
caught,  are  now  sei*ving  time  in  the  Atlanta  Peniten- 
tiary." 

When  word  spread  through  the  mountains  that 
Rose  and  his  gunmen  had  been  encircled  at  last  by  the 
strong  arms  of  the  law,  and  their  careers  brought  to 
a  close,  there  was  a  great  sigh  of  relief  from  law  en- 
forcement officers  and  mountaineers  alike.  Old  moun- 
taineers, when  they  heard  rumors  of  the  capture,  came 
down  to  the  trail  and  asked : — 

"Have  you  got  him?" 

"Yes." 

"Thank  God"  they  replied,  and  many  of  them  wept 
as  they  said  it.  And  well  might  they  say  it,  for  when 
they  left  home  to  go  any  distance  through  the  moun- 
tain timber  they  never  knew  whether  they  would  ever 
see  again  the  loved  ones  whom  they  kissed  good-bye. 

This  capture  added  much  to  the  splendid  reputation 
S.  Glenn  Young  had  already  achieved  down  in  the 
mountain  country,  and  his  name  became  known  far 
beyond  the  confines  of  the  mountain  regions  as  the  most 
courageous  and  efficient  officer  in  the  government  serv- 
ice. 

When  asked  if  it  took  nerve  to  walk  into  a  barrage 
of  fire,  Glenn  replied,  "You  can  get  used  to  anything. 


44  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

and  I  don't  mind  trading  shots  with  the  boldest  of  all 
bad  men.  I  learned  to  shoot  a  rifle  as  soon  as  I  could 
carry  one,  living  on  a  ranch  out  in  Western  Kansas. 
A  few  years  ago  anyone  w^ho  wanted  the  experience 
could  get  all  he  desired  by  joining  a  sheriff's  posse, 
almost  any  Saturday  night,  and  making  a  run  for  cat- 
tle rustlers,  thieves  and  hold-up  men." 


RAIDER    S.    GLEKX    YOUNG  45 


THE  CARNAHANS 

THE  headquarters  of  this  infamous  gang  which 
Young  brought  in  was  in  a  section  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains,  a  dense  fastness  about  thirty 
miles  from  Bluefield,  West  Virginia.  The  rendezvous 
was  practically  inaccessible  to  any  who  had  not  spent 
years  in  the  territory  and  familiarized  themselves  with 
virtually  every  inch  of  the  ground. 

For  many  miles  round  about  the  residents  were  in 
constant  fear  of  the  Camahans,  who  had  earned  the 
name  of  the  ''Robin  Hood  Band"  because  of  the  con- 
stant training  to  which  its  members  subjected  them- 
selves each  day.  This  band  of  ruffians  robbed,  pillaged 
and  killed  for  several  months  before  their  daring  opera- 
tions were  halted.  Glenn  trailed  them  down  after 
Josephine  Hadley,  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  residing 
near  Bluefield,  had  been  kidnapped  and  held  for  ran- 
som. 

Accompanied  only  by  the  girl's  fourteen  year  old 
brother  and  'Tal",  he  plunged  into  the  hunt.  After 
three  days,  during  which  he  and  the  lad  lived  on  hard- 
tack and  water,  four  of  the  bandits  were  taken  in  their 
lair.  Handcuffing  and  gagging  them.  Young  laid  in 
wait  for  the  return  to  camp  of  other  members  of  the 
gang,  feeling  certain  that  there  were  more  associated 
with  the  greatly  feared  leader. 

He  was  right.  Just  before  daylight  five  more  strag- 
gled into  the  den,  bringing  with  them  the  plunder  se- 
cured in  their  latest  depredations.  Before  announcing 
himself  the  officer  lay  in  a  place  of  concealment,  into 
which  he  had  dragged  his  captives,  and  uttered  no 


46     .  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

sound  until  the  quintette,  quite  unsuspicious  of  danger, 
lighted  a  fire  and  squatted  about  it.  When  the  time 
seemed  most  opportune  the  concealed  officer  sprang 
fearlessly  into  their  midst.  He  wouldn't  peraiit  the 
boy  to  expose  himself  to  danger,  preferring  to  take  all 
chances  alone. 

The  day  on  which  Young  and  the  Hadley  boy 
marched  the  Carnahans  into  the  little  town  of  Blue- 
field  has  gone  down  into  the  annals  of  the  town's  his- 
tory as  its  most  exciting  day,  unless  Armistice  Day  be 
excepted.  They  gave  Glenn  a  wonderful  ovation,  and 
his  fame  as  a  government  officer  went  far  and  wide. 
Two  members  of  the  captured  band  were  later  executed, 
and  the  remainder  were  sent  to  the  Atlanta  Peniten- 
tiary to  serve  terms  ranging  from  five  to  twenty  years. 

While  the  kidnapped  girl  was  a  prisoner  of  the  out- 
laws she  was  forced  to  submit  to  almost  unbelievable 
indignities. 

The  gang  had  established  a  well  equipped  fortress 
near  their  camp.  Over  fifty  guns,  including  two  ma- 
chine guns,  a  number  of  high  powered  rifles  and 
revolvers  of  high  caliber,  in  addition  to  seven  thousand 
rounds  of  ammunition  were  found  in  it. 

Among  several  murders  charged  to  Carnahan  was 
that  of  a  revenue  officer  named  Mullens.  He  had  been 
shot  and  mortally  wounded  by  the  bandit  chief  just 
three  days  before  Young  set  out  on  the  trail  of  the 
desperadoes. 

The  above  facts  regarding  the  sensational  capture 
of  this  gang  of  mountain  outlaws  were  given  me  by  a 
noted  newspaper  man,  who  at  that  time  was  in  the 
vicinity  of  Bluefield  and  connected  with  a  newspaper 
at  Huntington. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  47 


HUNTING  UNCLE  SAM'S  DESERTERS 
WITH  "PAL" 

THE  same  mountain  country  which  produced  Alvin 
York,  honored  as  America's  greatest  war  hero 
''over  there",  has  likewise  produced  some  of  the 
worst  and  most  desperate  men  which  have  ever  preyed 
upon  the  social  body. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Great  World  War,  S.  Glenn 
Young,  although  several  years  beyond  the  draft  age, 
tried  to  enlist  in  the  army,  but  was  repeatedly  rejected 
on  account  of  wounds  which  he  had  received  while  en- 
forcing the  law  in  the  mountain  country.  Determined 
to  have  his  part  in  his  country's  service,  he  volunteered 
to  the  United  States  Department  of  Justice,  requesting 
that  he  be  detailed  to  apprehend  deserters  and  federal 
violators  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  His  services 
were  accepted,  and  in  that  tremendous  task  he  suc- 
ceeded so  well  that  deserters  were  practically  elimin- 
ated from  the  country.  In  a  period  of  two  years  he 
arrested  and  brought  into  the  army  camps  of  the 
United  States,  almost  twice  as  many  deserters  and 
draft  dodgers  as  any  other  two  officials  in  the  United 
States.  From  the  mountains  of  Tennessee,  North  Caro- 
lina, South  Carolina,  Virginia  and  Kentucky  he  brought 
them  in,  and  turned  them  over  to  the  army  camps, 
from  which  they  were  either  sent  to  the  war  front  or 
to  one  of  the  state  penitentiaries.  Groups  numbering 
as  many  as  25  or  30  were  brought  in  many  times  by  the 
intrepid  officer. 


"  be 

il 


5  E 


_  c 


-    4< 


-i  J: 
*  « 
E  » 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


In  all  this  strenuous  and  dangerous  work  Young 
was  ably  assisted  by  his  wonderful  dog,  'Tal",  who 
accompanied  him  along  many  a  perilous  trail  through 
the  mountains  of  the  South,  and  without  whom  many 
of  his  master's  expeditions  would  not  have  ended  suc- 
cessfully. 

'Tal",  half  Russian  Wolf  Hound  and  half  Collie  had 
been  owned  by  a  Captain  of  Despatch  Bearers  in  the 
Belgian  army,  and  cost  approximately  $750.  Having 
been  trained  to  do  work  in  the  Belgian  army,  it  was 
not  a  difficult  thing  for  Glenn  to  teach  this  remarkably 
intelligent  creature  to  assist  him  in  the  search  for  and 
capture  of  deserters. 

When  "Pal"  arrived  in  this  country,  after  dis- 
tinguished service  overseas,  he  bore  on  his  body  the 
marks  of  his  sacrifices.  He  was  brought  over  by  a 
brother  of  Young  and  sent  on  to  him  at  Hoboken,  from 
which  place  Glenn  escorted  him  to  the  army  hospital 
at  Camp  Jackson,  where  he  was  treated  as  a  war  hero 
should  be,  and  the  painful  mustard  burns  upon  his  body 
properly  healed.  While  he  lay  in  a  hospital  ward,  "Pal" 
would  permit  none  but  his  new  master  to  wait  upon 
him.  There  in  the  Camp  Jackson  army  hospital  an  en- 
dearing friendship  was  begun,  destined  to  continue 
through  many  a  trying  day,  and  over  many  a  rugged 
path,  until  "Pal"  having  paid  the  last  measure  of  devo- 
tion passed  out  through  the  gates  of  tragedy  into  the 
land  where  dogs  have  neither  fleas  nor  fights.  If  this 
noble  beast  had  lived,  instead  of  journeying  the  poison 
route  to  another  world,  he  would  doubtless  have  found 
his  way  into  the  movies  and  become  a  rival  of  "Strong- 
heart",  for,  apart  from  the  serious  work  of  life  to 
which  he  was  dedicated,  "Pal"  had  other  accomplish- 


50 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

ments,  making  him  a  center  of  attraction  everjrvvhere 
he  went. 

He  was  all  but  human,  this  long,  slender  Belgian 
police  dog,  and  seemed  to  fully  comprehend  every  order 
which  his  master  gave  him.  He  would  go  for  anything 
that  Glenn  had  lost,  and  find  it,  if  that  was  at  all  pos- 
sible. He  would  go  to  the  hotel  office  desk,  bark  for 
the  key  to  his  master's  room,  take  the  key  handed  to 
him,  ring  the  elevator  bell  and  ride  to  his  room.  Jump- 
ing into  the  bath-tub  he  would  turn  the  faucets  and 
wallow  in  the  refreshing  waters  until  he  felt  that  he 
was  clean  enough  for  anybody's  company. 

But  of  his  remarkable  instincts  and  work  I  must 
tell  you  more.  Glenn  says  of  him: — *'I  have  refused 
as  much  as  $4,500  for  the  dog.  He  is  a  powerful  ani- 
mal, often  showing  keener  power  of  perception  than  a 
human.  I  have  often  left  him  to  guard  prisoners  while 
I  pushed  on  after  others.  On  one  occasion  I  was  en 
route  to  Columbia,  S.  C.,  with  eight  prisoners,  deserters 
from  the  army.  I  received  a  tip  that  I  could  get  two 
more  by  dropping  off  at  a  certain  point  high  up  in  the 
great  Smoky  Mountains.  We  got  off  the  train,  pri- 
soners, Tal'  and  I.  Drawing  a  circle  on  the  ground 
I  ordered  the  eight  men  into  it.  Then,  with  a  parting 
admonition  to  the  dog  not  to  allow  anyone  to  step  in  or 
out  of  the  ring,  I  started  out  for  the  pair  I  wanted. 
Upon  my  return  with  them  I  found  that  Tal'  had 
proven  true  to  his  trust.    Not  one  had  escaped." 

Down  in  the  Kentucky  Mountains  it  was  practically 
impossible  one  day  to  get  up  where  a  half  dozen  de- 
serters were  in  hiding,  but  "Pal"  trailed  the  fugitives 
and  finally  located  them,  so  that  his  master  was  able 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXX    YO  UXG 


51 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

URBANA 


52  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS     OF 

to  bring  them  out  from  their  hiding  place  and  turn 
them  over  into  the  hands  of  the  courts. 

A  noted  secret  service  man,  whose  name  already 
appears  in  this  record  and  who  still  resides  in  Charlotte, 
N.  C,  tells  of  how  Glenn  had  occasion  to  leave  an  entire 
room  full  of  prisoners  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
"Pal"  one  day  down  in  that  Ca,rolina  city.  Upon  his 
return  a  half  hour  later,  the  officer  found  that  not  a 
single  man  was  missing.  The  Belgian  police  dog  main- 
taining ferocious  guard  at  the  door  had  proven  entirely 
discouraging  to  their  ambitions  to  make  a  get-away. 

If  Walter  Doss  is  still  living  he  will  doubtless  re- 
member "Pal",  who  was  instrumental  in  locating  him 
when  he  was  a  deserter  from  the  army.  This  man  had 
made  a  subterranean  hiding  place  under  his  home, 
where  he  lived  and  made  an  occasional  run  of  blockade 
liquor  whenever  opportunity  presented  itself.  He  had 
cut  a  hole  in  the  kitchen  floor  of  his  little  cabin  in  the 
mountains.  This  connected  with  the  dug-out  under- 
neath, and  the  opening  of  it  was  always  kept  covered 
by  the  wood  box  in  the  kitchen.  By  hiding  in  this  cave 
Doss  had  succeeded  in  escaping  detection  when  officers 
looked  for  him,  which  they  did  on  several  occasions. 
Here  in  his  subterranean  den  just  across  the  Virginia 
line  the  culprit  was  brought  to  light  by  Glenn  and  "Pal" 
one  morning  just  as  the  sun  slipped  up  over  the  hori- 
zon and  was  peeking  through  the  mountain  timber. 
Doss  was  prepared  for  a  good  stiff  defense,  having 
with  him  when  captured  a  30-30  Winchester,  two  .45 
automatics,  a  long  dirk,  and  a  pair  of  brass  knuckles. 

Down  in  Polk  County,  N.  C,  this  famous  and  intel- 
ligent dog  figured  large  in  the  raiding  and  capture  of 
some  moonshiners   who  were   operating  three   illicit 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 53 

stills.  To  "Pal"  belongs  the  entire  honor  of  capturing 
one  of  the  operators. 

Surrounding  the  spot  where  the  stills  had  been  hid- 
den, the  officers  sent  the  dog  in  to  rout  out  the  opera- 
tors of  the  liquor  mills.  In  a  few  minutes  his  success 
was  heralded  by  the  exit  of  one  of  them  with  "Pal"  at 
his  heels  threatening  to  take  a  souvenir  of  the  occa- 
sion from  the  man's  thoroughly  scared  anatomy.  He 
was  saved  the  pain  of  the  operation,  however,  and 
taken  into  custody  by  the  officers.  They  then  rushed  the 
plant  and  took  over  1,000  gallons  of  beer,  several  gal- 
lons of  liquor,  and  three  complete  outfits.  They  put  up  a 
stubborn  fight  in  a  determined  effort  to  save  the  plants, 
which  were  of  considerable  value,  but  were  finally  over- 
come by  the  officers — and  "Pal". 

In  a  Carolina  jail  a  dejected  prisoner  might  have 
been  seen  one  morning.  He  was  in  a  meditative  mood, 
thinking  very  respectfully,  no  doubt,  of  a  Belgian  police 
dog  which  he  had  seen  and  met.  The  prisoner  also 
thought  of  several  gallons  of  good  com  liquor  and  of 
$70  in  good  United  States  currency  which  he  had  paid 
for  the  juice,  wholesale.  Carl  Lail,  for  such  was  the 
unfortunate  gentleman's  name,  was  a  very  early  riser. 
It  would  have  been  much  better  for  Carl  if  he  had  slept 
in  till  noon  on  this  particular  day. 

He  had  been  down  in  the  South  Mountains  on  a 
matter  of  business,  and  started  for  home  in  the  very 
small  hours  of  the  morning,  bringing  with  him  a  pre- 
cious cargo,  which  he  fondly  hoped  to  retail  at  a  good 
profit  to  men  who  thirst.  It  was  about  4:30  when 
Glenn,  "Pal",  and  a  local  officer  of  the  law  passed  by  on 
other  business  bent.  I  say  they  passed  by.  The  fact  is 
that  "Pal"  suspicious  of  the  lone  business  man  in  the 


54  LIFE     AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

buggy,  did  not  pass  by  until  he  had  satisfied  his  dog 
mind  that  all  was  well.  He  had  never  seen  the  man 
before,  and  did  not  know  that  he  was  admittedly  a  sly 
old  fox  who  could  put  any  number  of  gallons  over  on 
occasion,  and  yet  he  was  suspicious  and  stopped  to  in- 
vestigate. His  suspicions  were  confirmed  by  scent  and 
instinct,  and  'Tal"  summoned  his  m.aster,  who  turned 
his  car  around  and  came  back.  Alas  for  poor  Carl  and 
liis  corn  juice.  If  this  mountaineer  doesn't  think 
"Pal"  is  some  dog,  he's  a  poorer  judge  of  canines  than 
lie  is  of  moonkist  whiskey. 

The  little  struggle  necessary  to  subdue  this  pur- 
veyor of  liquid  cheer  almost  caused  Glenn  the  loss  of 
part  of  an  ear,  for  Carl  imbedded  his  molars  in  one  of 
the  officer's  receiving  stations.  He  was  persuaded  to 
desist,  however,  and  to  accompany  the  officers  to  the 
place  where  there  is  no  profit  in  corn  juice  either  for 
the  manufacturer  or  consumer. 

But  I  have  been  telling  you  more  about  the  dog  than 
about  his  master,  which  indeed  was  exactly  what  the 
modest  officer  did  when  a  special  effort  was  made  by 
a  newspaper  man  to  induce  him  to  talk  about  his  experi- 
ences down  in  the  mountains.  He  would  talk  but  little 
of  himself,  and  spoke  almost  exclusively  of  his  famous 
dog.  As  this  book  centers  around  him,  however,  he 
has  been  forced  into  the  limelight  and  I  must  tell  you 
more  about  his  side  of  the  work  in  rounding  up  de- 
serters from  the  army  camps  of  Uncle  Sam. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  you  to  learn  that  the  large 
majority  of  these  deserters  who  sought  seclusion  in 
the  mountains  of  the  Carolinas,  Kentucky,  Tennessee 
and  Virginia,  were  not  cowards  who  fled  in  fear  to 
avoid  service  over  on  the  European  battle  fronts.    Far 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


from  that.  Many  of  them  were  brave  fellows  who 
would  face  death  without  a  tremor.  Hundreds,  and 
possibly  thousands  of  desertions  were  due  to  homesick- 
ness, ignorance  in  regard  to  the  war,  the  principles 
involved,  and  the  danger  confronting  America  itself. 
This  ignorance  and  its  consequences  were  the  result, 
very  largely  at  least,  of  the  propaganda  against  the 
war  instituted  by  such  men  as  Tom  Watson  of  Georgia 
and  Coleman  Blease  of  South  Carolina.  These  men 
preached  by  voice  and  printed  page  against  the  draft, 
and  the  minds  of  many  young  men  were  thus  swayed 
wrongfully  through  these  Southerners  and  their  fol- 
lowers, who  were  known  as  Watsonites  and  Bleasites. 
A  large  number  of  these  deserters  to  whom,  upon  cap- 
ture, Mr.  Young  explained  the  real  causes  and  puiiDOses 
of  the  conflict,  were  willing  and  eager  to  do  their  full 
duty  and  pay,  if  need  be,  the  last  full  measure  of  devo- 
tion. 

S.  Glenn  Young's  work  in  rounding  up  these  men 
is  forever  famous,  especially  in  Charlotte,  Greensboro 
and  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  from  which  centers  he 
very  largely  carried  on  his  government  service.  He 
worked  in  nearly  every  county  of  North  Carolina,  and 
everywhere  with  marked  efficiency,  taking  all  the 
chances  which  any  of  his  brothers  in  arms  took  over- 
seas. He  has  hunted  men  from  Atlanta,  Knoxville, 
Chattanooga  and  many  other  points  in  the  South,  and 
very  few  men  whom  he  started  out  to  capture  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  eluding  the  wily  officer. 

Back  in  October,  1918,  he  was  forced  to  kill  a  fugi- 
tive during  a  battle  with  Butler  Myers,  Joe  Ward  and 
Charles  G.  Black,  three  Randolph  County  deserters 
whom  he  had  set  out  to  arrest.    Young  had  been  after 


56  LIFE     A  A'  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

the  men,  but  three  got  away  after  he  had  arrested  five 
others  in  the  vicinity.  Learning  that  the  officer  was 
on  their  trail,  one  member  of  the  notorious  trio  called 
up  the  officer  at  Ashboro  and  instructed  him  that  he 
had  better  not  make  any  effort  to  get  them  as  they 
were  well  armed  and  "would  shoot  him  on  sight". 

This  was  a  dare  not  to  be  swallowed  by  an  officer 
of  Young's  caliber  and  spirit,  and  he  was  soon  on  the 
way  to  Randolph  (bounty,  to  take  up  the  trail  of  the 
three  men  who  had  thrown  dowm  the  gauntlet  of  chal- 
lenge at  his  feet  as  well  as  those  of  Uncle  Sam.  He 
came  upon  the  defiant  trio  in  a  wooded  plot,  and  was 
welcomed  with  a  fusillade  of  shots  from  the  weapons 
of  the  deserters.  Young  returned  the  fire  with  his  .45 
caliber  revolver.  One  of  the  fugitives  was  using  a 
Swiss  army  rifle,  and  during  the  exchange  of  missiles 
a  bullet  nipped  a  portion  from  the  officer's  right  ear. 
By  this  time  he  had  succeeded  in  sending  two  of  his 
shots  home,  one  of  them  penetrating  the  lungs  of  Joe 
Ward,  and  the  other  one  striking  Butler  Myers  in  the 
thigh.  Ward  died  later  from  the  inflicted  wound.  When 
taken  prisoner  Myers  remarked  to  Young,  *'By  — ,  if 
my  gun  hadn't  jammed  I  would  have  killed  you  sure". 
Black,  the  third  member  of  the  band,  escaped  for  the 
time  being,  but  was  afterward  apprehended  and  all 
three  men  turned  over  to  the  military  authorities  as 
deserters. 

One  of  the  largest  single  captures  made  by  S.  Glenn 
Young  in  this  particular  section  of  the  mountain 
country  was  in  Surrey  County,  where  he  trapped  eight 
deserters,  all  heavily  amied  and  sleeping  in  a  tobacco 
bam.  The  men  knew  that  they  were  being  hunted  and 
pi-epared  themselves  to  resist  arrest.     Weil  provided 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 57 

with  rifles  and  revolvers,  they  went  into  a  remote  sec- 
tion of  the  county  to  hide  and  make  ready  to  resist 
arrest  to  the  limit. 

Pursuing  his  usual  tactics,  Glenn  traveled  at  night, 
getting  his  bearings  and  locating  his  quarry.  The  fugi- 
tives had  posted  guards  as  added  means  of  protection, 
but  even  these  were  surprised  by  the  government  agent, 
and  the  eight  men  captured  single  handed.  He  then 
called  upon  persons  living  in  the  neighborhood  to  assist 
in  carrying  the  guns  of  the  deserters  back  to  town.  Not 
having  handcuffs  to  use  on  these  men  the  versatile 
Young  took  barbed  wire,  looped  it  over  the  neck  of 
each  man  and  marched  them  into  jail  without  further 
trouble. 


58  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


A  MOUNTAINEER'S  WORD  IS  GOOD 

DURING  a  ten  days'  campaign  in  Davidson,  Ran- 
dolph and  Montgomery  Counties,  Young 
rounded  up  twelve  deserters  and  conducted 
them  to  Camp  Greene.  Two  of  this  number  were  cap- 
tured red  handed  while  operating  an  illicit  still. 
Glenn  disarmed  the  men,  stood  them  before  their 
still  and  snapped  a  picture  of  the  outfit.  In  this 
raid  he  also  captured  a  farmer.  Following  his 
custom  the  officer  permitted  his  prisoners  to  go 
back  and  see  their  families  before  being  turned 
over  to  the  authorities,  he  placed  them  upon  their 
honor  to  return  and  the  proverbial  word  of  the  moun- 
taineer was  kept,  with  the  exception  of  one  man,  the 
farmer,  who  failed  to  return.  Young  ran  him  down  a 
few  days  later,  after  he  had  fired  upon  the  officer  five 
times  from  a  mountain  trail  at  night. 

Within  a  period  of  five  weeks  Glenn  apprehended 
no  less  than  seventy-five  deserters  and  draft  dodgers. 
Most  of  these  men  came  to  the  City  of  Asheville  and 
sun*endered,  but  others  were  arrested  at  their  homes, 
usually  high  up  in  the  mountain  sections  of  the  nearby 
counties. 

Younj»  Requisitions  an  Engine 

There  were  three  desperate  men  high  up  in  the 
mountain  fastness  whom  Young  was  anxious  to  cap- 
ture. They  were  brothers.  In  addition  to  desertion 
one  of  these  men  was  a  murderer,  having  decapitated 
a  man  with  a  knife. 


RAIDER    S.GLENN    YOUNG  59 

Following  the  mountain  trail  up  as  far  as  Fontana, 
he  requisitioned  one  of  the  engines  of  the  Fontana  Log- 
ging Company  in  the  name  of  the  government  and  pro- 
ceeded ten  miles  further  by  rail.  Leaving  the  engine 
at  this  point  he  again  followed  the  trail  for  three  miles 
and  succeeded  in  locating  the  house  in  which  these 
three  desperate  men  lived. 

Placing  Dave  Robinson,  a  mountaineer  who  had  ac- 
companied him,  as  a  guard  at  the  back  of  the  house, 
Glenn  w^ent  to  the  front  door.  An  immense  woman,  the 
mother  of  the  much  wanted  trio,  wouldn't  let  him  in. 
There  was  not  a  moment's  time  for  argument.  He  was 
forced  to  push  her  over  in  order  to  gain  a  quick  en- 
trance. He  was  not  a  second  too  soon,  and  got  in  just 
as  the  three  were  making  for  their  guns.  It  was  speed 
or  death,  so  the  officer  chose  speed.  Striking  one  of 
the  men  over  the  head,  he  knocked  him  into  the  fire- 
place upon  which  the  fire  was  burning  brightly.  That 
the  man  arose  with  alacrity  goes  without  saying. 

One  of  the  brothers  lay  flat  on  his  stomach  upon  a 
bed.  The  mother  claimed  he  had  the  flu.  Glenn  found 
he  had  more  than  the  flu,  for  upon  compelling  him  to 
turn  over  he  removed  a  .44  Colt  pistol  from  the  man's 
hand.  He  had  just  been  waiting  for  the  right  moment 
to  shoot,  and  if  the  officer's  back  had  been  turned  away 
from  him  for  a  second  he  doubtless  would  have  pre- 
vented S.  Glenn  Young  from  ever  coming  to  William- 
son County  to  boot  the  bootlegger. 

Leaving  these  captives  in  the  cabin  with  the  lum- 
berman and  'Tal"  to  guard  them.  Young  went  to  Yel- 
low Creek  for  five  more  men.  Yellow  Creek  was  only 
accessible  by  climbing  a  mountain  between  6,000  and 
7,000  feet  high. 


60  LIFE    AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

These  men  were  wanted  by  the  goverament  for  hold- 
ing up  an  election  board  and  compelling  them  to  per- 
mit them  to  vote,  though,  being  deserters,  they  had  no 
right  to  the  franchise. 

Glenn  did  not  know  where  these  men  lived  and  had 
to  secure  infoiTnation  in  some  manner.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  better  way  than  to  hide  along  the  trail  until 
someone  approached  whom  he  might  persuade  to  part 
with  the  necessary  intelligence.  And  so  he  hid  him- 
self and  waited. 

About  daylight  came  a  big  fellow  carrying  a  large 
sack  of  corn  to  the  mill  to  be  ground  for  liquid  purposes. 
Glenn  accosted  him  and  demanded  that  he  tell  where 
the  five  desired  men  lived.  *'I  threatened  the  man,  who 
happened  to  be  an  uncle  of  some  of  the  deserters,  that 
if  he  misdirected  me  I  would  find  him  later  and  settle 
with  him.  Making  him  point  out  from  the  mountain 
side  the  three  houses,  located  about  a  mile  apart,  where 
the  five  men  resided,  I  said,  'Get  uix)n  that  rock  and 
wait  there  till  I  return.  If  I  don't  find  you  there  when 
I  get  back,  I'll  make  it  a  point  to  find  you  wherever  you 
are.'  "  The  big  man  straightw^ay  perched  himself  upon 
the  rock. 

Leaving  the  mountaineer  stranded  on  the  rock  and 
wishing  that  the  corn  in  the  sack  was  whiskey  in  the 
jug,  Young  set  out  across  the  mountain  for  the  three 
houses  and  the  five  men.  They  were  taken  by  surprise 
and  though  heavily  aimed  were  wise  enough  to  sur- 
render when  the  officer  had  the  ''drop"  on  them. 

About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  returned  to 
the  rock,  and  there  the  old  boy  sat  just  as  he  had  been 
sitting  when  Glenn  left  him  in  the  early  hours  of  the 
morning. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 61 

''Been  there  all  the  time?"  asked  Young. 

"IVe  never  been  off  this  spot"  replied  the  big  moun- 
taineer and  he  doubtless  told  the  truth.  Surely  it  is 
a  wonderful  help  to  have  the  temperament  of  a  stoic 
under  such  circumstances,  but  a  well  padded  cushion 
would  doubtless  have  been  an  additional  blessing. 

Glenn  thanked  the  man  for  the  assistance  he  had 
given  him,  took  his  five  prisoners  and  returned  by  trail 
and  rail  to  Fontana  where  he  arrived  about  ten  o'clock. 
Here  he  guarded  them  in  a  room  until  the  morning. 

It  would  take  a  volume  itself  to  tell  the  full  story 
of  Young's  exploits  down  in  the  mountains  during  the 
period  of  the  war.  The  incidents  which  I  have  briefly 
recorded  will  serve,  however,  to  show  something  of 
Uncle  Sam's  dauntless  law  enforcement  agents,  some- 
thing of  the  perils  faced,  the  difficulties  overcome,  and 
the  victories  achieved  in  the  very  face  of  death  itself. 
Thus  did  S.  Glenn  Young  serve  his  country  and  his 
flag  during  the  World  War,  proving  himself  something 
more  than  the  average  man  in  courage  and  prowess. 
Shame  on  the  weakling  enemies  of  this  doughty  hero 
who  ambush  themselves  behind  editor's  chairs  and 
printer's  type,  firing  upon  him  abuse  in  the  form  of  un- 
just criticism  and  lies.  I  say  hats  off  to  this  real  Ameri- 
can, a  man  of  brain  and  a  man  of  brawn,  fearless  of  his 
foes  and  far  more  honorable  than  the  enemies  who 
assail  him. 


62  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


THE  LUKE  VUKOVIC  AFFAIR 

DURING  1920  East  St.  Louis  and  Madison  made  a 
real  effort  to  house  clean.  The  conditions  had 
been  allowed  to  become  unspeakably  bad.  Viola- 
tions of  the  liquor  laws  were  widespread,  and  all  the 
crimes  which  accompany  such  violations  were  rampant. 
East  St.  Louis  had  become  a  dangerous  place,  a  crimi- 
nal haunt  for  many  of  the  most  desperate  in  the 
country. 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  one  of  the  officers  operating 
there  at  this  time,  and  his  reputation  for  fearlessness 
and  ability  as  a  law  enforcement  officer  were  greatly 
enhanced  during  his  service  in  that  center  of  great 
danger  to  those  who  dared  to  beard  the  criminals  in 
their  den.  More  arrests  were  made  there  during  his 
activities  than  before  or  since  in  an  equal  period  of 
time.  For  this  much  of  the  credit  is  due  to  him,  and 
has  been  accorded  by  many. 

Efforts  to  kill  him  were  frequent  on  the  part  of  the 
criminal  class,  while  others,  more  or  less  sympathetic 
with  them,  used  every  possible  means  to  discredit  him 
as  an  officer  of  the  law.  It  was  a  determined  purpose 
to  do  this,  I  have  no  doubt,  which  resulted  in  a  murder 
charge  being  filed  against  him  on  June  2, 1921.  He  was 
formally  accused  of  the  murder  of  Luke  Vukovic,  of 
Madison,  and  pleaded  not  guilty  to  the  charge. 

The  fatal  shooting  occurred  on  November  7,  1920. 
Young  and  Walter  Cowgill,  a  Granite  City  Lieutenant 
of  Police,  found  a  still  in  the  basement  of  a  house  oc- 
cupied by  Vukovic's  brother-in-law,  Michael  Sever, 
which  adjoined  the  Vukovic  home. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 63 

From  a  window  they  saw  Vukovic  drinking  liquid 
of  some  kind  from  a  milk  bottle.  Leaving  the  Sever 
place,  they  crossed  over  to  that  of  Vukovic  and  de- 
manded an  entrance  in  the  name  of  the  law.  After 
making  several  vain  demands,  and  waiting  for  a  rea- 
sonable length  of  time  without  receiving  a  response, 
they  forced  an  entrance  through  a  dooi^ay. 

Vukovic  and  his  wife  were  in  a  bedroom.  Young 
left  Cowgill  to  guard  them,  and  went  through  the  house 
in  search  of  liquor.  He  found  the  bottle  from  which 
they  had  been  drinking.  It  contained  some  dregs  of 
"moonshine"  whiskey.  Descending  into  the  basement 
through  a  small  trap-door  in  the  floor  of  the  kitchen, 
he  located  a  twenty-five  gallon  keg  of  liquor. 

Unable,  because  of  the  bulk  of  the  keg,  to  lift  it 
upstairs  without  aid,  he  called  to  Cowgill,  instructing 
him  to  bring  Vukovic  to  the  trap-door  entrance,  and 
station  him  where  he  could  be  seen  by  the  officers  while 
they  lifted  the  liquor  container  to  the  floor  above.  This 
was  done,  and  Cowgill  followed  Young  into  the  base- 
ment. 

A  few  seconds  later  Young  glanced  up  and  noticed 
that  Vukovic  had  vanished.  He  quickly  ascended  the 
ladder.  The  room  above  was  pitch  dark.  All  that  he 
could  see  was  a  nickle-plated  pistol  leveled  at  his  chest 
by  the  desperado  who  stood  just  a  few  feet  aw^ay. 
Glenn  stepped  rapidly  to  another  position  in  the  room, 
and  as  he  did  so  drew  his  own  weapon. 

"I  shoot",  he  heard  Vukovic  hiss  in  the  darkness, 
snapping  his  pistol  as  he  gave  notice.  Fortunately  it 
did  not  explode,  due,  it  was  revealed  later,  to  the  fact 
that  there  were  two  empty  shells  in  the  gun. 


64  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

When  the  trigger  snapped  Young  was  less  than 
three  feet  from  his  would-be  assassin.  He  had  pre- 
viously ordered  him  to  drop  his  weapon.  With  the  snap- 
ping of  the  bootlegger's  gun  at  him  Young  opened  fire, 
discharging  six  shots  in  rapid  succession.  Vukovic  fled 
to  the  rear  porch  of  the  house  and  the  officer  was  under 
the  impression  that  his  aim  had  not  been  true. 

The  firing  had  attracted  Cowgill,  who  by  this  time 
had  entered  the  room.  Vukovic  suddenly  opened  a  rear 
door,  and  picking  up  an  iron  bar,  struck  Cowgill  a  blow 
over  the  head,  at  the  same  time  pointing  his  gun  at 
Glenn  and  firing  twice.  Young  was  too  quick  for  him, 
however,  and  fired  two  shots  from  his  automatic  strik- 
ing him  in  the  forehead.  Vukovic  fell  to  the  floor,  still 
clutching  his  gun  between  his  fingers  as  he  collapsed. 
Examination  of  the  weapon  later  revealed  that  the 
loaded  chambers  had,  by  the  second  snapping  of  the 
trigger,  been  worked  into  firing  position,  and  had  the 
man  not  been  struck  down  before  he  pulled  it  a  third 
time,  the  gun  might  have  proven  effective. 

All  of  Young's  shots  struck  the  man.  Vukovic  used 
a  .38  caliber  in  the  battle,  Cowgill  a  .45,  and  Young  a 
.44  and  a  .32  automatic. 

Young  was  arrested  at  the  instigation  of  the  widow, 
behind  whom  stood  the  lawless  element  of  East  St. 
Louis  thirsting  for  revenge.  He  was  indicted  by  a 
Madison  grand  jury,  and  the  case  was  subsequently 
turned  over  to  the  Federal  Court  in  Springfield. 

During  the  trial  Vukovic's  wife  corroborated  state- 
ments by  the  officers  that  they  had  shouted  several 
times  that  they  were  government  men  and  would  break 
down  the  door  unless  they  were  given  admittance.  She 
said  she  remained  in  the  bedroom  during  the  shooting. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENX    YOUNG  65 

She  admitted  hearing  her  husband  say,  "I  shoot"  be- 
fore any  shots  were  fired. 

Vukovic  was  known  as  a  desperate  man,  and  had 
openly  made  threats  to  kill  any  policeman  or  prohibi- 
tion agent  who  attempted  to  interfere  with  him  in  his 
whiskey  business. 

Young's  superior  officers  commended  him  very 
highly  for  his  prudence  and  for  the  opportunity  which 
he  gave  the  man,  at  the  risk  of  his  o\\n\  life,  to  sur- 
render before  he  opened  fire  in  self-defense.  This  was 
characteristic  of  Young.  The  mountaineers  are  unani- 
mous in  declaring  that  he  always  gave  a  man  a  fair 
chance,  even  though  his  own  life  was  more  or  less  en- 
dangered by  so  doing.  And  all  this  gives  the  He  to  the 
charge  that  Young  kills  too  quickly.  He  is  not  a  blood- 
thirsty man.  His  frequent  admonition  to  the  men  who 
aided  him  at  a  later  date  in  Williamson  County,  not  to 
shed  any  blood  if  it  could  possibly  be  avoided,  is  known 
to  many.  He  respects  human  life,  but  the  desperate 
character  of  the  men  with  whom  he  has  had  to  deal  as 
an  officer  of  the  law,  has  made  the  killing  of  quite  a 
number  imperative,  just  as  much  so  as  the  killing  of 
Germans  was  imperative  on  the  part  of  our  boys  who 
fought  our  battles  overseas. 

"Of  course  I  regret  very  much  having  been  forced 
to  shoot  Vukovic,  but  I  was  only  performing  my  duty ; 
and  had  I  waited  a  second  longer  for  him  to  surrender 
and  drop  his  gun,  he  probably  would  have  killed  Cow- 
gill  or  myself,  were  Young's  words  after  the  battle. 

Following  the  inquest  the  coroner  told  Young  that 
''there  could  have  been  no  verdict  other  than  'justifi- 
able homicide',  as  all  the  evidence  showed  that  the 


66  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

officers  gave  the  man  every  chance  to  give  up  before 
a  shot  was  fired." 

Little  wonder  that  S.  Glenn  Young  was  fully  ex- 
onerated and  acquitted  on  his  own  testimony  and  that 
of  Lieutenant  of  Police  Cowgill.  And  with  his  acquittal 
there  terminated  another  of  the  multiplied  efforts  made 
by  law  violators  and  their  sympathizers  to  bring  to  an 
end  the  official  career  of  the  man  whose  work  and  skill 
they  fear  more,  perhaps,  than  that  of  any  other  law 
enforcement  officer  in  America  today.  This  determined 
effort  on  the  part  of  his  enemies  Vv'as  of  a  kind  with 
many  other  malign  efforts  made  at  a  later  date  in  Wil- 
liamson County  concerning  which  I  shall  tell  you. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN   YOUNG  67 


THE  GREGORYS  OF  POPE  COUNTY 

*'/^^EEING  America  First"  should  certainly  include 
^^  the  rugged  beauty  and  diversified  scenery  found 
^^  along  the  winding  Ohio  in  Pope  County,  Illinois. 
Unless  it  is  the  view  from  Starved  Rock  on  the  Illinois 
River,  I  know  of  no  scenery  anywhere  in  this  fair  state 
which  can  rival  the  view  from  the  hills  of  Golconda. 
From  these  suncrowned  elevations  one  commands  a 
view  of  the  river  for  many  miles  of  its  irregular  course, 
as  it  hastens  on  its  journey  as  if  to  keep  appointment 
with  the  great  "Father  of  Waters"  at  Cairo,  with  which 
it  then  travels  to  plunge  at  length  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  South. 

From  Golconda,  once  a  very  important  shipping 
point  on  the  Ohio,  one  looks  over  into  Kentucky,  thickly 
fringed  with  trees  along  the  river  line,  with  here  and 
there  a  farmhouse  looking  down  from  some  hill-top  as 
though  eager  to  watch  the  boat  traffic  between  New 
Orleans,  Paducah  and  points  far  to  the  North  and  East, 
a  traffic  now  likely  to  be  revived  through  the  raising 
of  the  average  river  level  by  means  of  government 
dams,  one  of  which  is  about  to  be  constructed  at  Gol- 
conda. 

A  few  miles  up  the  river  is  Cave-In-Rock,  made 
famous  by  the  gang  of  outlaws  who  used  it  as  their 
rendezvous  several  decades  ago.  An  addition  to  their 
other  numerous  crimes  was  that  of  counterfeiting,  in 
which  art  they  were  as  proficient  as  any  band  of  coun- 
terfeiters ever  caught  in  America.  The  cave  made  an 
excellent  place  for  their  mint,  and  as  headquarters  for 


LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


their  operations.  The  history  of  these  outlaws  has  been 
preserved  in  book  form  under  the  title,  ''The  Outlaws 
of  Cave-In-Rock",  and  is  of  more  than  local  interest. 

Pope  CJounty,  and  especially  Golconda,  has  produced 
many  excellent  men  and  women,  men  and  women  who 
have  gone  out  into  places  of  honored  leadership  in  the 
life  of  the  state  and  the  nation.  The  late  Secretary 
of  State,  James  A.  Rose,  who  served  Illinois  efficiently 
in  that  office  for  seven  years,  made  his  home  in  Gol- 
conda, and  others,  less  in  the  public  eye  perhaps,  but 
proficient  in  some  important  branch  of  the  world's 
work,  are  proud  to  own  this  old  and  honored  Illinois 
town  as  their  home.  It  was  in  Golconda  that  C.  S. 
Morrison  wrote  his  "Meditation",  which  has  come  to 
be  recognized  as  one  of  the  very  finest  musical  pro- 
ductions from  an  American  composei\ 

But,  like  every  other  county  in  our  commonwealth, 
Pope  has  its  criminal  history.  In  well  nigh  every  com- 
munity there  are  those  who  grow  up  to  shame  instead 
of  honor,  a  burden  to  their  county  and  liability  to  the 
state. 

Something  over  forty  years  ago  a  happy,  trustful 
young  woman  stood  at  the  marriage  altar  with  a  young 
man  who  had  won  her  heart.  Before  God  and  man  he 
promised  to  be  to  her  all  that  she  had  a  right  to  expect 
he  would,  a  faithful  husband,  provider  and  protector. 
The  man's  name  was  George  Gregory. 

One  day,  about  two  years  later,  that  young  woman 
had  great  joy  in  her  heart  as  she  looked  down  into  the 
face  of  her  first  born.  As  she  pressed  him  to  her 
bosom,  or  looked  into  his  wondering  eyes,  this  mother 
thought  of  the  coming  days  when  the  babe,  growing  up 
through  childhood  and  youth,  would  come  to  man's  es- 


RAIDER    S.GLENN    YOUNG  69 

tate,  and  like  every  good  mother  she  hoped  above  all 
else  that  her  son  would  grow  up  to  be  a  good  man,  a 
man  of  principle  and  honor.  She  named  the  boy, 
George  Jr. 

"0  blindness  to  the  future  kindly  given."  Today 
George  Gregory  Jr.,  and  Gregory  Sr.,  fill  unhonored 
graves,  graves  dug  by  their  own  sin  and  folly,  graves 
dug  by  their  defiance  of  the  laws  of  God  and  man.  The 
wife  and  mother  now  travels  alone  the  rough  road  to 
the  grave,  her  awful  burden  of  shame  and  sorrow  al- 
most too  much  for  flesh  and  blood  to  bear.  Indeed,  if 
it  were  not  for  her  simple  Christian  faith  she  would 
utterly  collapse  in  despair. 

But  you  are  waiting  for  the  story  of  the  tragedy 
which  brought  father  and  son  to  the  dust  and  I  will  not 
keep  you  longer. 

Pope  County  had  been  having  a  hard  time  seeking 
to  enforce  the  Prohibition  Amendment.  Many  stills 
had  been  found  along  the  river  and  among  the  hills. 
Bootleggers  plied  their  trade  by  river,  rail  and  automo- 
bile, and,  in  spite  of  the  fearless  efforts  of  States 
Attorney  Conley  to  enforce  the  law,  violations  were 
multiplied,  and  the  county  became  somewhat  notorious 
for  this  particular  brand  of  lawlessness. 

Among  the  most  active  agents  in  this  illicit  liquor 
manufacturing  and  sales  were  the  Gregorys,  father  and 
son. 

George  Jr.,  had  been  lawless  from  boyhood.  If  there 
was  any  meanness  going  on  in  or  about  Golconda,  peo- 
ple were  seldom  wrong  in  suspecting  that  the  Gregory 
boy  had  a  hand  in  it.  He  knew  nothing  about  loyalty, 
either  to  parents,  friends  or  God.  Time  and  time  again 
he  was  know^n  to  double  cross  even  his  best  friends. 


70  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

While  still  in  the  adolescent  period  he  had  become 
devoted  to  gambling  and  addicted  to  intoxicants.  The 
spirit  of  lawlessness  grew  with  the  passing  years,  and, 
when  the  Eighteenth  Amendment  became  United 
States  law,  George  Gregory,  aided  by  his  own  father, 
defied  and  shook  his  fist  in  its  face. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  November,  1923,  that  the 
career  of  this  pair  came  to  its  tragic  end,  an  end  for 
which  none  but  themselves  were  to  blame. 

For  days  George  Jr.,  had  been  drinking  and  driving 
through  the  county  heavily  armed  and  defying  the 
county  officers  to  arrest  him.  One  night  several  shots 
were  fired  from  ambush  into  the  car  of  Harry  Steyer, 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Gregory  did 
the  shooting,  for  it  was  known  that  he  had  threatened 
to  **get"  Steyer,  who  is  an  officer  of  the  law  and  had 
authority  to  arrest  him.  On  a  previous  occasion  Greg- 
ory had  shot  a  man  by  the  name  of  Tom  Rogers,  and 
is  alleged  to  have  shot  and  killed  his  ow^n  uncle  on  the 
Fair  Grounds  of  Golconda  in  the  fall  of  1922.  He  was 
not  convicted  of  this  crime  largely  because  eye  wit- 
nesses of  the  shooting  so  feared  the  man  that  they 
would  not  dare  testify  against  him. 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  in  the  Northern  part  of  the 
state  when  he  received  a  wire  to  proceed  at  once  to 
Golconda  if  possible.  He  immediately  responded,  bring- 
ing with  him  four  state  warrants  to  serve  on  the  Greg- 
orys, one  for  attempt  to  murder,  another  for  the  illegal 
manufacture  of  liquor,  a  third  for  selling  liquor,  and 
the  fourth  for  disturbing  the  peace. 

A  few  weeks  prior  to  this  Young  had  visited  the 
Gregory  home,  about  four  miles  from  Golconda.  He 
went  there  in  the  guise  of  a  paint  salesman.    He  proved 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


himself  a  good  one  too  for  he  secured  the  contract  from 
the  elder  Gregory.  At  the  same  time  he  saw  enough 
with  those  well  trained  eyes  to  strongly  confirm  sus- 
picions that  the  house  was  being  used  for  the  illicit 
manufacture  of  "White  Mule",  not  the  kind  used  in 
patching  inner  tubes,  but  the  kind  which  has  been  so 
widely  and  so  successfully  used  in  dispatching  men.  As 
he  talked  with  George  Gregory,  Sr.,  the  son  and  a 
stranger  could  be  seen  peering  down  cautiously  from 
an  upstairs  window,  the  window  of  a  room  in  which  a 
still  was  found  at  a  later  date. 

Young  detected  nervousness  on  the  part  of  the  old 
man  as  he  approached  him.  He  noted  the  nervousness 
of  the  wife,  who,  evidently  fearing  that  her  husband 
might  fire  upon  Glenn  without  asking  any  questions 
called  to  him  and  said,  'Tell  him  what  you  want".  The 
senior  partner  in  the  firm  of  Gregory  and  Son,  Boot- 
leggers, was  evidently  considerably  relieved  to  find  that 
all  the  stranger  wanted  was  a  paint  contract.  Doubt- 
less this  relief  was  no  small  factor  in  the  securing  of  the 
order. 

Upon  arriving  in  Golconda  in  response  to  the  urgent 
message  received,  Young,  accompanied  by  two  or  three 
deputized  men,  went  out  to  the  Gregory  place  and 
waited.  They  lay  out  in  the  weeds  not  far  from  the 
house  watching  for  evidence  of  the  father  and  son's 
presence. 

Some  time  during  the  night  they  came  in.  together 
with  a  third  man  named  Lewis.  The  mother  testified 
later  that  upon  their  entrance  they  accused  her  of  tell- 
ing on  them,  and  that  the  father  said  to  the  boy,  "Now 
George,  do  what  you  said  you'd  do  to  her",  and 
that  her  son  proceeded  to  beat  her  unmercifully  with 


LIFE     AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 


his  .45  caliber  revolver,  rupturing  her  ear  drum  and 
battering  her  body  until  she  was  bruised  from  head  to 
foot.  In  the  meantime  the  husband  and  father  looked 
on,  evidently  enjoying  the  dastardly  and  inhuman  deed. 

No  cries  were  heard  from  within  by  the  watchers 
in  the  weeds,  but  the  woman,  all  but  dead,  was  found 
later  when  they  raided  the  house  to  arrest  the  men, 
hoping  to  catch  them  red  handed  at  their  liquor  fac- 
tory. They,  however,  fearing  perhaps  that  the  mother 
was  dead,  and  possibly  suspicious  that  someone  was 
about  the  place,  made  their  get-away,  leaving  behind 
them  one-legged  Lewis,  their  accomplice  in  the  illicit 
business.  Glenn  compelled  Lewis  to  tell  where  the 
Gregorys  were  likely  to  be  found,  and  learned  that  he 
would  probably  run  on  to  them  down  at  the  Lewis  cabin, 
at  New  Liberty,  about  twenty  miles  south  of  Golconda. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  they  drove  down  to 
the  Lewis  place.  The  Gregorys  were  not  there.  Feel- 
ing reasonably  certain  that  they  would  come  there. 
Young  and  his  three  companions,  Harry  Steyer,  John 
Frothingham  and  Roy  Paget,'''  remained  in  the  cabin 
where  they  waited  patiently  for  the  coming  of  the  men 
whom  they  were  now  doubly  anxious  to  apprehend  and 
bring  to  justice. 

Slowly  the  hours  passed,  and  they  began  to  think 
that  their  birds  had  flown  to  parts  unknown.  But  at 
four  o'clock  they  drove  up  in  front  of  the  old  cabin  and 
started  to  unload. 

A  young  woman,  boon  companion  and  sweetheart  of 
George  Jr.,  was  the  only  one  of  the  three  who  ever 
entered  the  place.    Upon  her  entry  she  was  immediately 


*Steyer,  Frothingham  and  Papret  later  "turned  bad"  and  all  three  are  now 
in  the  Southern  Illinois  Penitentiary  for  a  Pope  County  bank  i-obbery,  com- 
mitted in   1924. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  73 

warned  and  placed  in  the  custody  of  Roy  Paget.  Glenn 
and  his  other  companions  then  stepped  out  of  doors. 
The  Gregorys  immediately  opened  fire,  the  older  man 
firing  the  first  shot.  It  missed  its  mark,  striking  the 
house  not  far  from  where  Glenn  was  standing. 
Again  he  fired,  this  shot  coming  closer,  and  almost 
fanning  the  face  of  Young,  who,  now  having  waited 
long  enough,  took  quick  aim  and  fired.  The  senior  Greg- 
ory fell  to  earth,  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  firing  his  third 
shot  at  the  officer,  whose  prowess  again  proved  his  sal- 
vation. 

George  Jr.,  who  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  car 
also  got  his  gun  into  play,  firing  twice  before  a  well 
directed  shot  from  Glenn's  automatic  brought  him  down 
mortally  wounded  to  the  soil.  The  senior  Gregory  died 
immediately,  but  the  son  lived  for  several  hours  after 
fc^eing  shot.  A  physician  was  called  as  promptly  as 
possible,  and  the  wounded  man  removed  to  the  hospital, 
where  he  died. 

The  Gregorys  were  found  to  have  been  very  heavily 
armed.  They  carried  with  them  at  the  time  they  were 
killed,  two  .45  Colts,  two  double-barreled  shot  guns, 
two  .38  Smith  and  Westons,  and  thirty-six  shot  gun 
shells  loaded  with  buckshot. 

In  the  investigation  that  followed  the  killing  of 
these  desperadoes,  Gregory's  girl  companion  whom  I 
shall  not  name  for  the  sake  of  her  respected  parents, 
told  of  their  violation  of  the  liquor  laws,  of  their  heavy 
drinking  and  their  threats  to  kill  any  officer  who  dai-ed 
interfere  with  them.  Gregory  Jr.,  had  declared  that 
he  would  never  be  taken  alive.  This  testimony  was 
confirmjed  by  that  of  Ed.  Threlkeld,  a  taxi  driver  and 
close  friend  of  the  younger  man. 


LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 


When  the  news  of  the  death  of  these  two  men 
leached  Golconda  it  created  a  great  sensation.  Many 
experienced  a  feeling  of  relief,  for  George  Gregory, 
Junior,  had  bean  the  ring  leader  among  violators  of  law 
in  the  county.  Little  sympathy  was  expressed  for  the 
men  who  had  tragically  paid  the  final  price  of  their 
folly.  Much  sympathy  was  expressed,  however,  for 
the  aged  and  battered  mother,  lying  at  the  point  of 
death,  beaten  by  the  boy  for  whom  she  had  gone  down 
into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  that  he  might  be  brought 
into  the  world,  beaten  by  the  boy  who  had  once  been 
innocent  and  pure,  the  boy  for  whom  her  heart  had 
planned  and  for  whom  her  hands  had  lovingly  wrought 
throughout  the  years  since  she  first  nestled  him  against 
her  bosom.  Wasn't  it  just  like  a  mother  to  blame  the 
boy's  wild  career  and  dishonorable  end  upon  the  hus- 
band and  father?  And  wasn't  it  just  like  a  mother  to 
find  a  grain  of  comfort  in  the  fact  that  after  her  boy 
had  beaten  her  he  came  back  into  the  room  where  she 
lay  for  a  moment  and  asked  her  a  qu^estion?  Perhaps 
her  poor  old  heart  felt  that  the  fact  that  he  did  that 
much  showed  that  he  had  some  concern  for  her  and  a 
little  pity.  God  bless  such  mothers  with  a  great  future 
blessing  who  can  find  some  good  even  in  the  w^orst, 
something  to  love  even  in  the  vilest. 

The  mother  still  liV|es.  Respected  by  neighbors  and 
friends,  this  innocent  and  deeply  wronged  woman, 
whose  life  was  a  daily  terror  and  who  never  sympa- 
thized with  the  evil  ways  of  her  husband  and  son,  is 
an  object  of  pity  to  all  who  know  her.  Her  simple 
Christian  faith  alone  sustains  her,  and  it  is  well  that 
for  those  of  such  faith  Gethsemane  and  Calvary  are 
followed  at  length  by  the  hour  of  glorification.    What 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


that  mother  has  failed  to  find  in  the  garden  of  tears, 
may  she  find  some  day  in  the  homeland  of  the  soul. 

The  death  of  the  Gregorys  will  long  be  remembered 
in  Pope  County.  Possibly  their  lives  will  serve  as  bea- 
cons of  warning  to  those  who  follow  after.  There  are 
young  men  gi'owing  up  there  today  just  as  careless  of 
God  and  as  defiant  of  law,  as  George  Gregory  was. 
May  his  tragic  and  dishonorable  end  yet  serve  to  turn 
them  back  from  the  gates  of  shame  and  death,  inscrib- 
ing deep  upon  heart  and  conscience  the  supreme  folly 
of  ignoring  God  and  of  playing  fast  and  loose  with  the 
laws  which  He  has  ordained  for  the  safeguarding  of 
the  social  body.  Above  the  history  of  this  father  and 
son  I  would  write  large  the  eternal  truth  that,  'THE 
WAGES  OF  SIN  IS  DEATH". 


LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER    S.    GLEN  X    YOUNG 


WILLIAMSON  COUNTY 

WILLIAMSON  County,  the  stage  whereon  the 
Si3nsational  events  my  pen  will  now  endeavor 
to  record  were  enacted,  is  that  section  of  Illinois 
whose  inhabitants  (many  people  suppose)  have  not 
yet  discovered  the  ten  commandments,  and  where 
young  men  upon  graduation  from  high  school  are 
handed  a  thirty-two  caliber  revolver  instead  of  a  di- 
ploma. It  is  that  one  of  the  102  counties  in  the  state 
where  there  are  supposed  to  be  just  two  classes  of 
people,  namely  those  who  have  a  little  still,  and  those 
who  still  have  a  little. 

Geographically,  it  is  the  heart  of  Southern  Illinois, 
commonly  known  as  '"Egypt",  so  called  because  at  one 
time  it  was  the  granary  of  the  country.  It  is  approxi- 
mately twenty-four  miles  long  from  East  to  West,  and 
eighteen  from  North  to  South.  It  has  an  area  of  432 
square  miles  and  276,480  acres  of  land.  This  land  has 
become  famous  in  recent  years  for  its  bituminous  coal, 
none  finer  being  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  It  has 
produced  more  soft  fuel  than  any  other  county  in  the 
state.  For  a  period  of  five  years  its  annual  production 
was  over  ten  million  tons  per  year.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  there  is  coal  enough  beneath  the  surface 
of  Williamson  to  last  for  at  least  150  years. 

Nor  is  all  the  county's  w^ealth  beneath  its  surface, 
for  its  fields  are  fertile,  yielding  good  harvests  of 
wheat,  oats,  com,  potatoes,  melons  and  all  kinds  of 
small  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  Southern  section  of 
the  county  is  part  of  one  of  the  richest  fruit  districts 


78 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

in  the  United  States,  and  is  noted  particularly  for  its 
luscious  apples  and  peaches,  which  are  more  and  more 
in  demand  in  the  large  distributing  centers  of  the 
country.  The  Williamson  County  Farm  Bureau  is 
doing  excellent  work  in  the  promotion  of  scientific 
farming,  and  in  the  encouragement  of  fruit  growing. 
The  Williamson  County  Fair  Association,  which  cele- 
bi-ated  its  67th  anniversary  in  1923,  is  also  doing  much 
toward  the  increase  of  production  and  the  improvement 
of  methods. 

The  population  of  the  county  runs  close  to  65,000, 
over  ten  thousand  of  whom  are  of  foneign  birth.  In 
Ilerrin,  which  has  the  largest  foreign  citizenship,  there 
are  no  less  than  sixteen  nationalities  represented, 
including  Italians,  Lithuanians,  Russians,  Poles  and 
Greeks.  About  3,000  of  the  number  are  Italian.  John- 
ston City,  a  town  of  9,000  inhabitants  is  fully  30  per 
cent  foreign.  Marion,  the  county  seat,  has  a  popula- 
tion of  approximately  12,500,  less  than  two  thousand 
being  of  foreign  birth,  while  Cartei^ville  with  over  4,000 
is  almost  100  per  cent  American,  over  90  per  cent  of 
whom  own  their  own  homes. 

Six  railroads  touch  the  county,  including  the  Illinois 
Central  Line  from  St.  Louis  to  Paducah,  Ky.,  Chicago 
and  Eastern  Illinois,  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy, 
Missouri  Pacific,  Marion  and  Eastern,  and  the  Big  Four. 
The  Coal  Belt  Electric  Line  connects  Marion  with  Car- 
terville  and  Herrin.  In  addition  to  these  lines  of  trans- 
portation, the  county  has  over  fifty  miles  of  hard  road, 
exclusive  of  paving  in  the  cities,  n<early  all  of  which  are 
well  paved  with  asphalt  or  brick. 

To  those  who  have  never  lived  in  a  coal  mining 
region,  or  perhaps  have  passed  through  some  of  the 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


unsightly  towns  which  characl^erize  some  mining  sec- 
tions, the  mind  picture  which  they  draw  of  WilHamson 
County  and  its  cities  is  a  very  unlovely  one.  But  the 
to^^^ls  and  cities  of  this  county  are  not  composed  of 
unsightly,  dirty  shacks  spilled  out  in  disorderly  fashion 
or  grouped  in  an  unsymmetrical  horde.  It  is  a  real 
source  of  amusement  to  watch  the  faces  of  visitors,  and 
to  hear  their  expressions  of  surprise  as  they  drive 
through  the  streets  of  Herrin,  Marion  and  Carterville 
and  undergo  the  great  disillusionment. 

Marion  has  a  five  story  bank  building  which  could 
not  be  built  today  for  $250,000,  and  another  bank  build- 
ing which  cost  about  $100,000,  while  a  third  bank  has 
its  own  three  story  bank  and  hotel  building.  This  fine 
county-seat  has  over  twenty-five  miles  of  well  paved 
streets  and  a  complete  sewerage  system;  gas,  electric 
lights  and  municipal  waterworks  system  costing  nearly 
$800,000.  Its  township  high  school  would  be  an  attrac- 
tion in  any  city  of  the  land,  while  its  Carnegie  Library, 
Elk's  Building,  Masonic  Temple  and  churches  are  large, 
substantial  and  ornate  structures,  such  as  only  a  well- 
to-do  high  type  of  citizenship  are  likely  to  erect. 

Herrin  recently  completed  the  laying  of  pavements, 
the  contract  price  of  which  ran  close  to  the  half  million 
mark.  Just  a  week  ago,  in  spite  of  the  slump  in  the 
coal  industry,  a  private  corporation  opened  a  White 
City  amusement  park,  involving  an  investment  of 
$300,000.  Herrin's  high-class,  well  built  brick  stores, 
with  their  unusually  wjell  dressed  windows,  her  wdde 
streets,  beautiful  homes  and  public  buildings  effect  a 
pleasant  shattering  of  the  misconceptions  entertained 
by  those  who  view  them  for  th^e  first  time. 


80 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


Herrin    City    Hall,    Ly-Mar   Hotel    in    Background. 
It  was  from  this  building   that  S.   Glenn    Young  directed   many   of  the  famous 
liquor    raids,    and    where    he    reigned    supreme    following    the    assassination    of 
Constable  Caesar  Cagle  and  kidnaping  of  Herrin  police  officers  on  Feb.  8,  1924. 


And  what  has  been  said  of  Herrin  and  Marion,  can 
as  truly  be  written  of  Johnston  City  and  Cartei-ville, 
which  rank  next  in  size  to  those  centers  of  industry. 
Carterville  has  the  distinction  of  having  a  larger  per- 
centage of  citizens  owning  their  own  homes  than  any 
other  town  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  In  all  of  these 
towns  there  are  live,  active  men's  organizations,  such 
as  the  Lions  and  Rotarians,  which  are  undertaking  and 
accomplishing  much  toward  better  civic  conditions. 
They  have  recently  formed  a  bi-county  organization 
with  Franklin  County  for  the  maintenance  of  Boy 
Scout  work  throughout  Williamson.  Largely  through 
the  efforts  of  these  organizations,  a  Director  of  Boy 
Scout  work  has  been  secured  and  has  his  office  head- 
quarters at  West  Frankfort. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  81 

Histoiy  of  The  County 

In  1809,  when  Illinois  was  organized  into  a  Territory 
proper,  the  United  States  Congress  appointed  a  Gov- 
ernor over  the  Territory.  One  of  his  first  official  acts 
was  to  authorize  the  division  of  the  Territory  into 
counties,  in  order  that  the  execution  of  the  laws  might 
be  facilitated.  What  is  now  known  as  Williamson 
County  had  hitherto  been  part  of  St.  Clair  County,  now- 
fell  into  Gallatin  County,  where  it  belonged  until  Illinois 
was  taken  into  the  Union  in  1818,  and  Franklin  County 
was  taken  off  the  West  side  of  Gallatin.  In  1839  Frank- 
lin was  divided  by  legislative  act,  and  the  Southern 
half  became  known  as  Williamson  County. 

Mr.  Milo  Erwin,  whose  history  of  Williamson 
County,  in  its  earlier  days,  is  a  standard,  tells  us  that, 
"When  our  fathers  came  here  they  found  vast,  silent, 
virgin  plains  unclaimed,  untouched,  untilled,  hedgeless, 
free  to  all.  The  county  was  fertile  and  full  of  charm, 
and  awaited  only  the  coming  of  man  to  develop  its 
inherent  resources.  The  prairies  and  woodlands 
abounded  with  wild  animals,  including  the  buffalo, 
which  roamed  over  the  county  in  herds  of  countless 
hundreds.  The  woods  and  fields  echoed  with  the  enrap- 
turing notes  of  feathered  warblers,  while  cranes, 
brants,  wild  geese,  and  eagles  were  seen  everywhere. 

"The  Shawnee  Indians  once  claimed  this  county  as 
their  own,  and  every  valley  of  our  county  has  yielded 
up  evidence  of  their  sojourn  here,  where  they  were 
hated  and  dreaded  by  the  whites,  and  finally  over- 
whelmed and  obliterated.  The  valley  of  the  Crab 
Orchard  is  particularly  associated  with  Indian  history. 
Here,  even  as  late  as  1828,  the  Kaskaskian  Tribe  who 


82 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

were  friendly  to  the  white  people,  would  camp  and  hunt 
for  furs." 

The  first  white  settlers  in  Williamson  immigrated 
from  East  and  South,  particularly  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee. The  first  settlement  occurred  in  1810,  and  by 
1822  there  were  settlers  in  all  the  precincts  of  the 
county,  men  and  women  who  lived  like  the  Indians, 
mostly  in  the  woods.  From  that  time  on  the  influx  of 
immigration  became  a  strong  and  steady  stream  in 
which  was  the  founder  of  many  a  family  since  promi- 
nent in  the  life  and  history  of  the  county. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  write  the  history  of  those 
early  settlers.  That  has  been  very  ably  done  by 
another.  They  were,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  humbler 
class,  and  consisted  of  all  those  types  of  character 
which  are  usually  found  in  such  a  group.  They  were 
of  unmixed  blood,  enterprising  and  courageous.  Some 
of  them  lacked  certain  of  these  qualities,  and  the  base 
qualities  of  fallen  humanity  seem  to  have  been  domi- 
nant in  their  lives.  Of  the  majority,  however,  it  is  on 
record  that  they  were  generous  and  gentle,  and  that 
their  kindness  was  bounded  only  by  their  ability  to 
bestow. 

The  progress  of  the  county  was  naturally  slow, 
partly  because  of  the  natural  difficulties  to  be  faced, 
and  partly  from  the  fact  that  the  early  settlei^s  were 
mostly  poor  and  illitei*ate.  It  is  said  that  there  was 
no  man  in  the  county  worth  more  than  $1,000  until 
after  1830.  With  the  coming  of  the  church  and  the 
school,  progress  was  accelerated.  W^ith  their  coming, 
industry  always  takes  the  place  of  idleness,  and  prog- 
ress of  retrogression.  It  was  so  here,  and  soon  the 
"cabins"  **tents"  and  ''stockades"  began  to  give  place 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  83 

to  houses.  The  first  brick  house  is  said  to  have  been 
built  in  1840  by  James  M.  Campbell.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Court  House  in  1841  and  the  Western 
Exchange  in  1842.  The  first  business  house  in  Marion 
was  built  by  one  John  Davis,  when  the  town  was 
located.  He  is  said  to  have  been  in  such  a  hurry  to 
sell  whiskey  that  he  bought  a  set  of  stable  logs  and 
started  shop  on  the  square,  from  which  place  of  busi- 
ness he  had  to  move,  however,  when  the  town  was  sur- 
veyed. 

Marion  received  its  incorporation  papers  in  1851, 
but  made  little  progress  until  1873,  when  it  was  organ- 
ized into  a  city  under  the  general  laws  of  the  state. 
Carterville,  eight  miles  West  of  Marion,  on  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  was  incorporated  as  a  village  in  1873. 
Herrin  'and  Johnston  City  are  much  more  recent,  and 
were  created  as  a  result  of  the  development  of  the  coal 
industry  for  which  the  county  has  become  noted. 

It  is  not  a  pleasant  task  to  record  the  criminal  his- 
tory of  the  county,  and  I  do  so  very  briefly,  and  that 
only  to  form  a  background  for  the  present  evolutionary, 
or  perhaps,  revolutionary  process,  which  has  brought 
the  county  once  again  before  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and 
is  what  I  regard  as  a  civic  new  birth  to  righteousness 
and  honor. 

The  story  of  the  ''Bloody  Vendetta"  that  is  respon- 
sible in  part  for  the  painful  stigma  of  "Bloody  William- 
son", is  a  gruesome  one,  though  no  worse  than  stories 
which  have  as  their  stage  other  counties  in  Illinois 
and  adjoining  states.  Had  the  soil  of  Williamson  been 
saturated  with  the  blood  and  tears  of  justifiable  war,  I 
would  hasten  to  my  task  unreluctantly.  But  to  record 
the  dampening  of  its  soil  with  the  blood  and  tears 


84  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

occasioned  by  cold,  deliberate  murder,  is  work  I  engage 
in  with  sorrowful  hesitation.  I  am  hesitant  too  because 
descendants  of  some  of  the  participants  in  the  crimes 
committed  are  still  living  in  the  county,  useful  citi- 
zens and  honored  because  of  the  rectitude  of  their  lives 
and  the  ideals  which  they  maintain.  In  touching  upon 
the  awful  story  but  lightly,  it  is  in  charity  to  them  to 
whom  the  whole  story,  dripping  with  human  blood,  is 
as  awful  and  hateful  as  it  is  to  myself. 

Even  w^hile  I  write  these  pages  the  nation  is  being 
thrilled  by  the  news  of  the  murder  of  young  Franks, 
son  of  a  Chicago  millionaire,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  slain 
deliberately  and  in  cold  blood  by  two  millionaire's  sons, 
high  up  in  university  and  social  circles  in  Chicago.  The 
Vendetta  perpetrated  a  series  of  just  such  atrocious 
deeds,  carefully  planned  by  men  of  intelligence,  and 
executed  by  their  fiendish  agents  until  even  hell  must 
have  blushed  for  shame,  and  the  angels  of  the  Most 
High  supplicated  the  throne  for  justice. 

The  three  original  causes  of  the  ''Bloody  Vendetta" 
were;  first,  a  game  of  cards  in  a  saloon;  second,  jeal- 
ousy over  a  woman;  third,  suit  over  a  crop  of  oats. 
From  quarrels  thus  originated,  bitter  family  feuds 
sprouted  to  blossom  and  bear  fruit  very  speedily  in  mur- 
ders. Whenever  representatives  of  these  families  met 
there  were  encounters  with  words  and  fists,  and  some- 
times with  guns,  no  serious  haim  at  first  being  done, 
however,  though  bitterness  was  intensified  on  each  oc- 
casion. These  encounters  sometimes  amounted  to  a 
riot,  for  which  the  participants  were  arrested  on  at 
least  four  occasions.  The  information  against  them, 
however,  was  always  quashed.  On  a  fifth  trial  some 
convictions  were  secured,  those  on  the  other  side  escap- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  85 

ing  through  a  change  of  venue.  Thus  were  the  fires  of 
hell  fanned  into  flame  upon  the  hearts  of  men,  and  ven- 
geance became  the  settled  policy  of  their  lives. 

-i  It  was  close  to  the  Jackson  County  line  that  the 
first  fruit  of  hate  fell  in  the  murder  of  George  Bulliner. 
On  December  12,  1873,  he  started  for  Carbondale  never 
to  reach  it,  and  never  to  return  to  his  family  alive. 
Two  men,  unsoftened  and  unmoved  by  the  appeals  of 
brotherhood  or  the  demands  of  conscience,  lay  with 
their  eyes  fixed  upon  the  valley  road,  and  listening  in- 
tently for  the  sound  of  a  horse's  feet  as  it  bore  toward 
them  and  death — a  husband  and  a  father.  Moments 
are  hours  when  men  thirst  for  bloody  vengeance,  but 
at  last  the  hour  strikes.  George  Bulliner,  all  unsus- 
pecting, comes  abreast  of  the  ambushed  enemy.  A 
volley  is  fired,  two  or  three  balls  taking  effect  in  his  hip 
and  leg.  His  horse  wheels  and  throws  his  back  to  the 
assassins,  who  fire  upon  him  again,  felling  him  to  the 
earth  and  death  with  forty-four  buck-shot  in  his  back. 
Bulliner  was  found  shortly  afterward  and  his  sons  were 
summoned  to  his  side.  John  reached  his  side  just  in 
time  to  put  his  arms  about  him  and  hear  him  say, 
"Turn  me  over  and  let  me  die".  This  foul  murder  has 
never  been  expiated  in  Williamson  County. 

Less  than  four  months  elapsed  after  the  perpetra- 
tion of  this  crime  and  one  which  outranks  it  in  its  hein- 
ousness.  When  Monroe  and  David  Bulliner,  sons  of 
the  slain  man,  w^ere  returning  from  church,  they  were 
fired  upon  by  two  assassins  concealed  in  nearby  fence 
corners.  Amidst  a  hurricane  of  bullets  from  the  shot 
guns  and  navy  revolvers  of  the  hidden  foe  there  was 
one  shot  destined  to  find  its  billet  in  the  body  and  end 
the  life  of  David.    As  they  carried  him  to  his  home  he 


86  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 

murmured:  *'Is  it  a  dream?  Is  it  a  dream?"  There 
amidst  his  brothers  and  sisters  who  stood  in  hushed 
agony  about  his  bed  and  in  the  presence  of  the  mother 
whose  heart  w^as  burdened  with  sorrow^  almost  too 
heavy  to  bear,  David  BulHner  passed  out  to  that  great 
beyond  into  which  his  father  had  been  so  recently  and 
tragically  hurled. 

Who  can  wonder  at  the  feelings  engendered  within 
the  hearts  of  the  hapless  victims  of  such  dastardly 
crimes  ?  That  the  surviving  members  of  families,  thus 
ruthlessly  robbed  of  those  greatly  beloved,  would  have 
deep  rooted  bitterness  within  their  souls  occasions  no 
surprise  whatever.  Who  can  wonder  that  these  feel- 
ings were  intensified,  when,  after  the  expenditure  of 
much  money  and  effort  in  the  prosecution  of  the  alleged 
assassins,  the  so  called  "orderly  process  of  law"  failed 
to  convict  and  punish  the  accused,  but  turned  them 
loose?  I  am  not  here  to  justify  subsequent  wrongs, 
but  of  this  I  am  certain,  that  w^hen  justice  fails,  it  is 
not  at  all  surprising  that  men  take  the  law  into  their 
owTi  hands  to  avenge  the  wrong  done  to  those  whom 
they  love. 

Describing  the  conditions  throughout  the  county 
at  this  period,  Mr  Erwin  says:  ''Ruffianism  w^as  ram- 
pant. Noted  assassins  were  concealed  in  the  thickets 
of  the  bloody  ground.  The  air  was  filled  with  omens  of 
disaster.  Pass  the  street  corners  and  the  hot  breath  of 
murder  was  whispered  in  your  face.  Bold  assassins 
stalked  unbridled  and  unchecked.  To  bring  these  out- 
laws to  justice  was  the  universal  desire  of  our  people, 
but  how  to  do  it  was  a  point  to  put  to  silence  the  entire 
county". 


RAIDER   S.    GLENN   YOUNG 87 

The  dawn  of  a  better  day  was  hastened  when  a 
brave  woman,  Mrs.  Wagoner,  told  a  courageoujs  man, 
James  H.  Duncan  of  Marion,  who  were  guilty  of  cer- 
tain murders.  Mr.  Duncan  was  a  man  of  nerve,  discre- 
tion and  persistence.  He  it  was  who  laid  all  the  plans 
and  backed  all  the  efforts  to  bring  the  guilty  ones  to 
justice.  One  after  another  they  were  trapped,  arrested 
and  brought  to  trial.  One  after  another  they  were 
found  guilty  and  sentenced,  some  to  death  and  others 
to  varying  terms  behind  prison  bars. 

Oh  what  sorrow  and  tears  and  blood  followed  the 
firing  of  the  first  fatal  shot  of  the  Vendetta  I  What  an 
awful  harvest  has  been  reaped  from  the  sowing  of 
hatred  in  the  hearts  of  men?  How  pathetic  the  dis- 
tress and  suffering  which  the  guilty  bring  upon  the 
innocent?  How  supremely  foolish  and  sinful  is  the 
arbitrament  of  aims  in  the  settlement  of  differences 
between  men  and  men  ?  How  inevitable  are  the  wages 
of  sin?  'The  wages  of  sin  is  death",  death  to  all  that  is 
worth  while  in  this  life  or  the  life  to  come.  Happy  is 
the  man  who  can  leave  vengeance  with  God. 

Thus  were  written  in  blood  the  first  sad  pages  of 
Williamson's  criminal  history.  The  awful  chapter  was 
brought  to  an  end  when  judges  and  juries,  unmoved 
by  fear  or  politics,  took  the  responsibility  of  trying  and 
punishing  the  guilty.  When  the  law  fails  to  function 
quickly  and  adequately  it  ceases  to  be  a  terror  to  evil 
doers.  When  law  and  justice  prevail  in  society,  crimi- 
nals are  discouraged  and  the  passions  of  the  human 
heart  are  far  less  likely  to  flame  forth  with  destructive 
energy.  Back  of  the  ''Vendetta"  Hes  the  fact  that  the 
ordinary  agents  of  the  law  had  proved  insufficient. 


88 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

THE  HERRIN  MASSACRE 

WITH  THE  intervening  history  of  Williamson 
County  it  is  not  the  province  of  this  book  to 
deal.  Indeed  that  portion  of  its  past  history 
which  is  recorded  within  these  pages  is  given  just  to 
furnish  something  of  an  historic  background  for  recent 
events. 

With  the  development  of  the  coal  industry  the  popu- 
lation of  the  county  rapidly  increased.  Many  new  com- 
munities were  established,  and  the  larger  ones  already 
in  existence  becoming  thriving  centers  of  trade. 

There  have  been  bright  spots  in  the  history  of  this 
county.  It  has  produced  many  fine  citizens,  men  and 
women  who  have  been  thoroughly  patriotic  both  in 
times  of  war  and  peace,  men  and  women  who  have  been 
a  credit  to  American  citizenship.  In  fact  this  type  has 
been  in  the  majority,  and  the  lamentable  thing  is  this, 
that  a  small  percentage  of  unprincipled  and  criminal 
people  have  brought  upon  a  whole  county  the  stigma 
which  has  become  attached  to  it,  but  which  I  am  con- 
fident will  yet  be  removed. 

June  22,  1922,  saw  the  name  of  WiUiamson  County, 
written  large  and  in  letters  of  blood,  before  the  eyes 
of  the  world.  "Bloody  Williamson"  became  bloodier, 
for  upon  that  date,  between  eight  and  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  occurred  the  Lester  strip  mine  assassinations, 
which  will  go  down  to  history  as  the  Herrin  Massacre. 

On  that  date  twenty-three  non-union  men,  imported 
to  Williamson  county  to  operate  the  Lester  Strip  Mine, 
between  Herrin  and  Marion,  had  surrendered  after 
being  besieged  by  union  miners  for  several  days.  All 
miners  of  the  nation  were  on  strike  at  the  time,  and 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


89 


the  millionaire  owner  of  the  Strip  Mine  thought  to 
profit  by  defying  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America 
and  mining  and  selling  coal  on  a  rising  market.  After 
the  imported  strike-breakers  had  given  up,  they  were 
marched  away  from  the  workings  in  the  direction  of 
HeiTin,  followed  by  a  mob  consisting  of  men,  women 
and  children. 

Two  trials  of  mine  union  leaders  failed  to  reveal 
how  the  affair  started  which  resulted  in  the  death  of 
twenty-three  of  the  imported  men,  so  this  book  cannot 
divulge  the  secret.     They  w^ere  killed,  mostly  by  gun- 


L,-'. 


Giant    Steam    Shovel    Used    in    "Stripping"    Earth    from    Shallow    Coal    Veins. 


90 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


Funeral  of  Three   Union  Miners  Killed  by  Mine   Guards   Preceding  the 
"Herrin   Massacre." 


shot  wounds.  Three  union  miners  had  been  killed  in 
the  siege  by  bullets  fired  from  the  enclosure  in  which 
the  strangers  were  barricaded,  and  this,  together  with 
the  fact  that  some  members  of  the  mob  were  inflamed 
by  liquor,  somehow  led  to  the  death  of  many  of  the 
strike-breakers. 

It  was  here  that  the  breakdown  of  the  law  and  the 
courts  opened  the  way  for  conditions  that  finally  be- 
came unbearable  and  resulted  in  the  coming  of  S.  Glenn 
Young  to  Williamson  county.  George  Galligan,  a  union 
miner,  w^as  elected  sheriff  by  the  union  vote,  and  the 
lawlessness  that  later  made  the  county  a  by-word  had 
its  inception. 

Some  men  who  had  been  leaders  among  the  miners 
became  involved  in  lawbreaking  enterprises,  and  as 
their  power  over  county  ofticials  grew  so  flourished 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOUNG  91 

their  arrogance.  Conditions  went  from  bad  to  worse 
until  finally  the  people  organized  to  put  down  evil,  and 
the  final  adventures  of  S.  Glenn  Young  were  enacted. 
Right  here  let  it  be  said  once  and  for  all,  that  S.  Glenn 
Young  was  not  involved  in  any  way  in  the  events  of 
the  Herrin  Massacre. 

Raid  Conditions  in  Williamson  County 

"I  have  been  gambling  around  these  here  joints  for 
over  ten  years,  but  it  got  too  raw  for  me".  When  a 
professional  gambler  makes  such  a  confession  as  that, 
surely  the  rottenness  of  conditions  in  the  indicated 
area  is  well  established.  Thus  I  heard  Herrin  indicted 
one  evening  early  in  1924. 

What  did  that  avowed  law  violator  mean?  What 
did  the  candid  confession  of  his  soul  imply?  It  meant 
this,  that  during  the  administration  of  Sheriff  Gal- 
ligan  and  Duty,  the  open  secret  violations  of  law  were 
even  worse  than  during  the  regime  of  former  Sheriff 
Thaxton.  And  that  is  saying  a  great  deal,  for  during 
the  Thaxton  administration  things  were  notoriously 
vile  in  Williamson  County. 

As  recently  as  the  autumn  of  1923,  Herrin,  fre- 
quently designated  throughout  the  country  as  "Little 
Hell",  was  a  place  in  which  the  worst  criminals  of 
Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  other  centers  felt  perfectly  at 
home.  It  was  a  rendezvous  for  underworld  talent. 
Murder,  robbery  and  assault  were  common  occur- 
rences. Innocent  men  were  even  shot  down  on  the  pub- 
lic highway  for  refusing  to  stop  their  cars  at  the  thug's 
demand.  Perpetrators  of  these  crimes  were  often  un- 
touched by  the  hands  of  the  law.  Few  were  ever  ade- 
quately punished  for  their  crimes. 


92  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

With  scarcely  more  than  two  exceptions  the  hotels 
of  Herrin  were  houses  of  assignation,  through  means 
of  which  the  proprietors,  and  officials  who  protected 
them  in  their  nefarious  business,  increased  their  bank 
accounts.  Painted  prostitutes  walked  the  streets  right 
under  the  eyes  of  so-called  policemen,  leading  their 
duped  victims  to  one  of  the  officially  protected  dens  of 
vice  which  advertised  itself  as  a  hotel.  One  of  these 
institutions  was  located  directly  opposite  the  city  hall, 
where  anyone  could  see  ample  evidence  of  the  partic- 
ular line  of  business  which  it  was  carrying  on. 

In  addition  to  these  corrupt  hotels  were  numerous 
other  places  of  ill  repute,  where  fallen  women  divided 
their  earnings  with  the  ''lady"  or  with  the  male  pro- 
prietor of  the  institution.  One  man  is  knowm  to  have 
practically  paid  for  his  hotel  wuthin  the  last  few  years, 
largely  by  the  extra  money  brought  in  by  the  lewd 
women  whom  he  harbored.  Though  that  man's  place 
of  mixed  business  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and 
notorious,  for  some  reason  or  other  he  very  largely 
escaped  trouble,  though  his  place  was  occasionally 
raided,  usually  just  before  election  time. 

Another  vice  which  flourished  in  Herrin  and  at 
other  points  in  the  county  was  gambling,  ''detestable 
because  selfishness  is  its  sire  and  avarice  its  dam".  To 
quote  John  Roach  Stratton,  that  fearless  New  York 
preacher,  "It  has  not  one  redeeming  trait  in  it ;  it  has 
not  one  generous  impulse  behind  it,  not  one  beneficent 
result  from  it.  It  honeycombs  the  soul  with  the  basest 
of  passions.  It  is  a  vice  whose  root  is  greed,  whose 
trunk  is  cruelty,  and  whose  fruit  is  ruin  to  mind  and 
soul."  This  vice  which  diseases  the  mind,  corrupts  the 
imagination,  weakens  the  will,  prostitutes  the  affec- 


.RAIDER    S.    GLEX  X    YO  U  XG  93 

tions,  and  unfits  one  for  the  serious  and  noble  duties  of 
life,  was  rampant.  Gambling  joints  were  numerous, 
Herrin  particularly  being  thus  cursed.  Gamblers  from 
far  and  wide  gathered  here  for  protracted  meetings, 
and  nightly  broke  the  law  with  the  knowledge  and 
therefore  the  virtual  consent  of  officials  elected  by  the 
people  to  see  that  society  was  protected  from  such 
evils. 

Then  too  there  was  that  camouflage  of  prohibition 
days  called  the  *'soft  drink  parlor".  Well,  the  pro- 
prietors did  have  it  rather  "soft"  for  far  too  long  a 
time.  Many  of  their  patrons  had  it  hard.  I  have  seen 
bottled  goods  carried  out  from  these  places  and  deliv- 
ered to  customers  who  waited  at  the  door  in  their 
car  for  the  refreshing  draught.  I  have  known  of  offi- 
cers of  the  law  to  patronize  these  joints  and  sample 
the  fluids  there  dispensed  by  the  gentlemen  who  paid 
a  ''soft"  license,  but  conducted  a  "hard"  business. 
That  scores  of  these  places  received  protection  has  long 
since  been  established.  A  prominent  attorney  is 
known  to  have  held  a  conference  with  a  number  of 
Herrin  saloon  men  and  to  have  been  assured  that  this 
prominent  Federal  Attorney  legal  light  would  "take 
care  of  them".  And  that  reminds  one  of  the  stories 
for  which  the  late  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  famous. 
He  told  it  once  in  a  cabinet  meeting  in  Washington. 

As  President,  on  a  Western  trip,  an  old  Rough  Rider 
of  his  boarded  the  train  and  renewed  their  acquain- 
tance. Not  long  afterward  Mr.  Roosevelt  received  a 
letter  from  the  cowboy  requesting  the  sum  of  $150  to 
aid  him  in  defending  himself  against  the  charge  of 
stealing  horses.  The  Colonel,  always  a  good  sport  and 
loyal  friend,  sent  the  money.     About  a  month  later 


94 LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 

he  received  a  letter  from  his  old  acquaintance  thank- 
ing him  for  the  money,  but  saying  that  he  no  longer 
needed  it,  as  his  political  party  '*had  elected  their 
candidate  for  District  Attorney".  Since  the  present 
United  States  District  Attorney  assumed  office  the 
hundreds  of  illegal  liquor  joints  were  never  raided 
until  S.  Glenn  Young  came. 

Not  only  was  the  Eighteenth  Amendment  fla- 
grantly and  openly  fractured  in  the  ostensible  soft 
drink  parlors  of  Herrin,  but  bootleggers  there  found 
a  veritable  Mecca.  Women  as  well  as  men  engaged  in 
the  modern  occupation  of  "mule"  vending,  using  all 
the  methods  devised  by  fertile  brains  since  Mr.  Vol- 
stead prepared  his  dry  plank  and  had  it  nailed  into  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  That  these  law 
breakers  were  never  arrested  I  do  not  say,  for  even 
the  sheriff  sometimes  disturbed  the  even  tenor  of  their 
ways  and  collected  souvenirs  in  the  form  of  stills  and 
bottles  to  use  as  evidence  not  so  much  against  them 
as  to  prove  to  the  public  that  he  sometimes  did  his 
official  duty.  What  I  do  affirm  is  this,  that  for  the 
most  part  they  were  treated  with  great  leniency,  that 
the  fine  imposed  w^as  not  in  any  wise  discouraging  to 
their  activities.  S.  Glenn  Young  has  in  his  possession 
affidavits  from  19  deputy  sheriffs,  constables  and 
police  officers  in  Herrin  and  the  surrounding  district, 
to  the  effect  that  they  arrested  scores  of  violators 
caught  in  the  act  of  selling  and  manufacturing  liquor, 
and  that  practically  every  one  of  them  was  permitted 
by  the  United  States  Attorney  to  plead  guilty  to  a 
charge  of  ^'possession"  and  escaped  with  a  light  fine. 

That  efforts  were  made  by  officials  higher  up  to 
corrupt  other  officers  of  the  law  is  also  established.    A 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 95 

bona  fide  affidavit  from  the  Mayor  of  a  Williamson 
County  town  not  far  from  Herrin,  states  that  a  well 
known  United  States  Attorney  approached  him  on  one 
occasion  and  said: — '*You  are  a  fool  if  you  don't  get 
some  of  this  easy  money;  the  former  Mayor  got  his 
and  you  don't  hear  anyone  raving  about  it". 

When  I  was  a  small  boy  and  didn't  have  the  neces- 
sary money  to  pay  my  way  into  the  ball  game,  I  could 
always  see  a  big  field  through  a  little  hole  in  the  fence, 
and  surely  the  field  with  all  its  corruption  and  dirt  can 
be  seen  through  a  question  recently  asked  the  United 
States  District  Attorney  by  Mr.  Young:  *'Why  did 
virtually  every  bootlegger  in  Williamson  County  dur- 
ing our  investigation  there  tell  George  Simcox,  myself, 
and  other  investigators,  that  they  had  things  'fixed' 
with  Potter,  Duty  and  Galligan,  and  were  not  afraid 
of  the  government  doing  anything  to  them?" 

I  have  written  at  length  about  conditions  in  Herrin. 
But  similar  conditions  to  those  found  there  existed  in 
varying  measure  throughout  the  whole  county.  Cor- 
ruption and  vice  had  entrenched  themselves  in  well 
nigh  evei'y  community.  Marion  was  freer  than  Her- 
rin, though  by  no  means  clean,  because  the  Mayor,  Mr. 
Clarida,  and  his  police  tried  to  enforce  the  law.  Out 
at  Half  Way  on  the  road  between  Marion  and  Herrin 
was  a  gambling  den  and  liquor  dispensary  w^hich  had 
long  been  notorious,  and  which  county  officers  per- 
mitted to  operate.  Murders  had  been  committed  here, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  a  rendezvous 
for  the  worst  tj^e  of  criminals,  and  that  here  some 
of  their  crimes  were  definitely  planned.  It  was  in  this 
protected  hell,  that  Whitey  Doering,  of  the  Egan  Rats 
Gang,  was  killed  by  one  Charles  Berger,  shortly  be- 
fore Young  came  to  the  countv. 


96 LIFE     A\  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

Another  lawless  community  and  the  scene  of  fre- 
quent shootings,  was  Colp,  commonly  known  as  Pistol 
City,  a  town  more  than  half  negro  and  foreign,  lying 
about  three  miles  due  North  of  Carterville,  and  an 
equal  distance  West  of  Herrin.  Several  **soft  drink" 
parlors  operated  here,  and  stills  worked  overtime  to 
meet  the  demand.  Gambling  and  vice  also  cooperated 
to  make  Colp  notorious  as  a  center  of  lawlessness. 
County  officials  knew  all  this.  Why  did  they  permit 
such  conditions?  Were  they  afraid  of  their  lives  if 
they  interfered?  I  think  not.  A  prominent  Ameri- 
can Weekly  recently  said,  ''Generally,  where  lawless- 
ness prevails,  there  is  weakness  and  cowardice,  if  not 
graft  and  criminal  connivance  in  the  local  govern- 
ment". Truly,  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  raid  the  homes 
and  business  places  of  your  friends  and  supporters. 
Why  expect  such  a  breach  of  friendliness  and  such 
acts  of  ingratitude  on  the  part  of  the  county  or  state 
officials?  How  unreasonable  decent,  law  abiding  peo- 
ple are  becoming?  How  exacting  upon  those  into 
whose  hands  they  trustingly  place  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment? Surely  it  is  reasonable  that  unto  those  who 
render  most,  most  shall  be  given? 

It  was  such  lawless  nauseating  conditions  as  these ; 
it  was  these  multiplied  and  brazen  violations  of  law 
right  under  the  nose  of  officialdom;  it  was  this  pro- 
tected county  farm  of  crime  that  aroused  the  respect- 
able citizenship  of  Williamson  County  to  the  point  of 
definite  and  determined  action.  If  the  county  was 
ever  to  be  made  a  safe  and  desirable  place  in  which  to 
rear  their  sons  and  daughters;  if  Williamson  County 
was  ever  to  be  stayed  in  its  rapid  moral  declension, 
then  every  decent  man,  every  man  of  character  and 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  97 

caliber  had  to  rise  up,  and  uniting  with  those  of  like 
mind' and  heart,  meet  the  challenge  of  corrupt  condi- 
tions with  suitable  action.  Thousands  of  red  blooded 
men  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  political  en- 
couragement of  lawlessness  must  be  discouraged,  and 
graft  on  the  part  of  those  entrusted  with  office  termin- 
ated. They  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  through 
the  enforcement  of  law,  the  foreigner  within  our 
gates  must  be  forcibly  taught  that  America  is  no 
place  in  which  to  perpetuate  European  evils,  here 
placed  under  the  ban  by  law,  that  to  enjoy  American 
privileges  America's  laws  must  be  respected.  Thou- 
sands had  come  to  these  conclusions.  What  was 
needed  was  cohesion,  unified  action. 

In  the  latter  part  of  July,  1923,  a  gathering  of 
citizens  who  were  vitally  interested  in  law  enforce- 
ment was  held  in  Marion.  Over  two  thousand  men 
and  women  from  over  the  county  assembled  upon  the 
public  square.  The  primary  purpose  of  the  meeting 
was  to  urge  the  officials  of  the  county  to  enforce  the 
laws,  and  to  clean  up  the  existing  dirt  which  made  the 
county  obnoxious  to  every  decent  citizen.  Speeches 
were  made  by  several  ministers  from  adjoining  towns, 
in  which  the  moral  and  financial  support  of  the  best  citi- 
zens of  the  county  was  pledged  to  the  officials  in  the 
work  of  moral  house-cleaning.  The  sheriff  and  his 
deputies  were  assured  that  any  number  of  men  were 
available  to  assist  them  in  raiding  the  numerous, 
liquor  joints  throughout  Williamson.  Rev.  Glotfelty, 
Pastor  of  the  Herrin  Methodist  Church  said,  *'We  are 
ready  to  assist  you  in  any  way,  even  to  cost  of  life,  to 
make  a  clean-up  of  Williamson  County,  and,  further- 
more, if  you  do  not  make  an  effort  to  clean-up,  some- 
one else  wiir*. 


98  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

This  meeting  is  particularly  interesting  because  it 
gives  the  direct  lie  to  the  whine  of  the  sheriff  at  a 
later  date  when  he  claimed  that  he  hadn't  had  the 
support  of  the  citizens.  The  fact  is  he  didn't  want 
the  support  of  the  decent  citizenship — ^except  at  the 
polls. 

After  futile  efforts  to  secure  the  support  of  the 
sheriff,  it  was  found  that  a  number  of  the  deputies  in 
Herrin  were  bootleggers  and  gamblers,  some  of  them 
having  been  indicted  on  more  than  one  charge.  Ap- 
pealing to  the  city  and  the  county  without  results,  we 
appealed  to  the  state,  but  our  appeal  was  as  vain  as 
threats  to  the  Mummies  of  the  Pharaohs.  As  a  last 
resort  there  was  effected  an  organization  of  citizens 
who  stand  for  the  highest  ideals  of  Americanism. 

The  citizens  carried  their  grievances  to  the  Federal 
authorities  at  Washington,  and  Federal  Commissioner 
Haynes  sent  a  number  of  men  into  our  county  to 
suppress  the  violations  of  law.  A  large  number  of  citi- 
zens were  deputized  by  these  authorities,  and  simply 
awaited  marchinof  orders  to  raid  the  criminal  resorts. 


THE  MISREPRESENTATIVE  PRESS 

I  HAVE  a  friend  in  the  ministry  who  tells  the  story 
of  a  man  who  was  called  upon  to  address  a  large 
gathering  of  newspaper  men.  Very  aptly  he 
selected  as  his  text  words  from  the  New  Testament 
connected  with  the  healing  of  the  paralytic  who  was  let 
down  through  the  roof  by  his  four  friends  into  the 
presence  of  the  Great  Healer.  His  text  was,  "They 
would  have  come  nigh  unto  Jesus  but  they  could  not 
for  the  press". 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  99 

The  Williamson  County  Ministerial  Union  would 
have  given  the  public  the  truth  concerning  the  clean  up 
of  the  county  under  the  leadership  of  S.  Glenn  Young, 
but,  alas,  they  could  not  for  the  PRESS.  A  letter  was 
drafted  by  that  representative  Protestant  body,  in 
which  the  facts  concerning  the  county,  its  citizenship 
and  the  recent  liquor  raids  were  set  forth  briefly  and 
clearly.  This  letter  was  sent  to  the  Associated  Pi'ess, 
but  it  was  evidently  consigned  without  mass  or  requiem 
to  its  last  resting  place.  In  so  far  as  I  know  even  its 
last  words  were  not  recorded.  It  died  "unknown,  un- 
honored  and  unsung".  Such  is  the  fairness  of  our 
American  press,  which  seems  to  prefer  the  second  hand, 
watered  and  flavored  stories  of  its  reporters  to  the  first 
hand,  undiluted  facts  known  to  intelligent  and  truthful 
witnesses  upon  the  scene  of  action. 

Professor  Jerome  Davis  of  Dartmouth  College,  Han- 
over, N.  H.,  has  a  splendid  article  in  a  cuiTent  monthly 
under  the  caption,  'The  Adulteration  and  Poisoning 
of  News".  Any  who  have  merely  suspected  that  the 
metropolitan  press  has  been  guilty  of  adulteration  will 
be  fully  persuaded  of  its  guilt  after  reading  his  con- 
tribution. Certainly  it  was  never  guiltier  of  that  sin 
than  in  relationship  to  Williamson  County,  Illinois.  To 
say  that  the  newspaper  reporters  sent  in  here  during 
the  early  weeks  of  the  year  to  write  up  the  story  for 
their  several  papers  showed  ''misdirected  abilities  for 
fiction  writing"  is  to  exercise  the  grace  of  charity  in 
larger  measure  than  I  find  it  possible  to  do  at  this  pres- 
ent moment. 

Many  facts  were  deliberately  suppressed  and  others 
were  distorted.  Sensational  elements,  often  having 
little  if  any  basis  in  truth,  were  magnified  and  exploited. 


100 LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  notorious  Knights  of  the 
Flaming  Circle  were  placed  in  the  same  category,  and 
portrayed  as  two  lawless  factions  shooting  out  their 
differences  while  decent  citizens  looked  on  in  fear  and 
trembling.  Mr.  S.  Glenn  Young  was  presented  to  the 
American  people  as  a  rough-neck  gunman,  a  man  with- 
out any  legal  authority  and  a  trouble  maker,  one  who 
was  interfering  with  the  "orderly  process  of  law". 

In  speaking  of  this  gross  unfairness  of  the  press 
in  regard  to  himself,  Glenn  Young  says :  ''Ninety-nine 
per  cent  of  the  new^spaper  articles  criticising  my  activi- 
ties and  the  actions  of  men  associated  with  me  are  as 
false  as  the  people  that  manufactured  them.  My  every 
act  in  Williamson  County  or  any  other  county  has  been 
legal  and  honorable  and  I  defy  anyone  to  produce  any 
evidence  to  the  contrary.  If  the  people  throughout  the 
country  knew  of  the  dirty,  contemptible  means  certain 
officials  of  this  county  and  district,  who  are  intimate 
friends  of  the  lawless  element,  have  taken  to  discredit 
the  good  citizens  of  this  and  Franklin  County,  who  have 
given  their  time  and  money  to  make  this  county  a 
decent  place  in  which  to  live,  they  would  be  astonished". 

Professor  E.  A.  Ross  of  Wisconsin,  calls  the  metro- 
politan dailies  "our  reptile  press",  and  some  very  sound 
reasons  could  be  further  adduced  to  prove  the  justice 
of  the  appellation.  Certainly  the  decent,  fair  minded 
citizens  of  Williamson  County  (and  there  are  thousands 
such)  feel  that  the  Chicago  Tribune  and  other  leading 
dailies  have  proven  themselves  worthy  of  the  indict- 
ment. Whether  it  has  been  a  case  of  a  capitalistic 
press  injecting  some  of  its  venom  into  labor,  or  a 
Romanized-Judaized  press  striking  its  fangs  into  the 
Klan  I  am  not  fully  persuaded.     Perhaps  it  is  both. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  101 

Certain  am  I  of  this,  however,  that  multitudes  of 
American  people  all  over  the  nation  have  had  their 
minds  poisoned  against  the  whole  citizenship  of  this 
county,  and  that  thousands  of  worthy  men  and  women, 
whose  lives  and  interests  happen  to  center  here,  have 
had  a  thorny  crown  of  shame  pressed  down  upon  their 
brows. 

A  widely  known  American  writer  recently  aflfirm.ed 
that  we  are  not  getting  the  facts  from  our  foreign  cor- 
respondents. Either  they  are  ** violently  prejudiced" 
or  they  feel  it  necessary  to  warp  their  cables  to  "please 
the  editor"  back  home.  That  is  quite  in  harmony  with 
the  following  statement  from  Mr.  Young:  "The  true 
facts  about  the  Williamson  County  situation  have  never 
been  published.  The  newspaper  men  who  have  been 
down  there  have  told  me  that  they  sympathized  with 
my  fight,  but  that  they  did  not  dare  send  out  the  true 
story  for  their  papers  would  not  only  refuse  to  publish 
it  but  would  discharge  them. 

"One  reporter  on  a  Chicago  paper  sent  three  col- 
umns about  the  true  situation,  and  when  it  appeared 
in  print  it  had  been  cut  to  a  half  column  and  changed 
to  conceal  the  truth.  The  reporters  told  me  they  had 
to  send  out  what  their  papers  wanted  regardless  of  the 
facts". 

Great  guns  and  German  gas!  What  a  sight  to 
behold,  the  great  American  press  the  biggest  factor  in 
moulding  public  opinion,  stooping  so  low  as  to  resort 
to  deliberate  and  systematic  lying  and  propaganda. 

And  is  not  this  problem  of  propaganda  about  the 
worst  enemy  of  truth  that  we  have  in  America  today  ? 
We  had  striking  evidence  of  its  working  some  weeks 
ago  when  the  Chicago  press  reported,  or  rather  pro- 


102  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

fessed  to  report,  a  meeting  of  the  Epworth  League  of 
the  First  Methodist  Church  of  Evanston,  Illinois.  It 
seems  that  a  discussion  occurred  there  on  the  subject 
of  *The  German  Youth  Movement".  A  member  of  the 
American  Legion  replied  to  the  speaker,  who  had  been 
a  conscientious  objector  during  the  war.  I  have  learned 
on  authority  that  there  was  certainly  no  riot  there,  and 
that  no  revolutionary  remarks  were  indulged  in  by 
anyone  present.  On  the  following  day,  however,  such 
headlines  as  these  appeared  in  leading  Chicago  dailies : 
**Hiss  Flag  in  Evanston  Church",  'Tacifist  Gibes  At 
United  States  Cause  Wild  Sabbath  Service  Scene", 
"Near  Riot  As  Allison  Talks  At  Evanston :  War  Heroes 
Booed".  Shades  of  Washington  and  Lincoln!  One 
could  almost  imagine  that  when  David  said  in  his  haste 
that  ''all  men  are  liars"  he  was  thinking  of  newspaper 
reporters.  If  he  said  it  in  haste  then,  who  could  blame 
him  if  he  said  it  with  deliberation  today  after  reading 
the  news  and  comparing  it,  if  possible,  with  the  actual 
facts? 

Before  me  are  several  examples  of  manufactured 
news.  The  first  is  from  the  highly  unveracious  pen  of 
one  Tom  Tippett,  Federated  Press  staff  correspondent. 
One  would  suspect  that  when  this  reporter  was  leaving 
his  office  for  Williamson  County  the  editor  had  said  to 
him,  *'If  you  find  the  truth  Tom,  tip  it  and  give  us 
something  else  that  will  sell  w^ell."  Tom  Tippett  did 
tip  it  sure  enough.  For  example,  he  speaks  of  religious 
and  racial  persecution.  I  think  there  is  scarcely  even 
a  member  of  the  Flaming  Circle  too  low  down  to  deny 
that  allegation.  Religion  and  race  have  had  no  more 
to  do  with  the  clean-up  of  Williamson  County,  than 
Murphy's  cow  with  the  nomination  of  President  Cool- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  103 

idge.  He  says  that,  ''in  these  raids  furniture  was 
smashed,  properties  stolen,  and  women  as  well  as  men 
were  beaten.  The  Chief  of  Police  of  Carterville  was 
badly  beaten  by  raiders".  These  charges,  which  Tom 
sent  to  his  newspaper  because  they  wanted  them,  are 
simply  a  part  of  the  propaganda  of  the  law  violators. 
^Ir.  Young  has  never  raided  a  county  or  city  where 
similar  tactics  have  not  been  employed.  He  has  had 
perhaps  a  thousand  charges  preferred  against  him  and 
his  men  in  similar  manner,  but  not  one  of  them  ever 
came  to  trial — not  because  of  his  or  other  influence, 
but  because  the  officials  knowing  nothing  would  come 
of  the  trials,  dropped  the  cases  of  their  own  volition. 

In  regard  to  the  Carterville  Chief  of  Police.  The 
said  gentleman  who  guarded  Carterville  from  law  vio- 
lators by  day,  and  a  bootlegging  joint  east  of  Carter- 
ville by  night,  was  knocked  down  only  when  he  moved 
his  hand  toward  his  gun  to  resist  duly  deputized  offi- 
cers of  the  law  who  had  evidence  against  the  place  he 
was  protecting  and  were  authorized  to  act  upon  the 
evidence  and  raid  the  illegal  institution.  Brother  of 
Ora  Thomas. 

Another  bit  of  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  the 
press,  one  for  which  the  St.  Louis  papers  had  to  retract, 
is  spread  out  before  me.  It  is  the  published  allegation 
that  S.  Glenn  Young  had  been  requested  to  leave  Wil- 
liamson County. 

In  one  comer  of  the  St.  Louis  "Globe-Democrat"  of 
the  issue  of  February,  the  following  finds  its  place: — 

"Deny  Young  Was  Ordered  From  Williamson 
County. 

"Marion,  Illinois,  Feb.  24th. — Citizens  of  Williamson 
County  desiring  to  correct  erroneous  newspaper  and 


104 LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

press  association  reports  that  S.  Glenn  Young  has  been 
ordered  out  of  the  county,  today  made  the  following 
statement : 

"We,  the  citizens  of  Williamson  County,  desire  to 
state  that  S.  Glenn  Young  has  not  been  requested  to 
leave  this  county  and  that  no  restrictions  have  been 
placed  upon  his  activities  within  the  county  by  anyone. 
Practically  every  citizen  in  Williamson  County  who 
stands  for  law  enforcement  welcomes  S.  Glenn  Young 
to  this  city  to  make  his  future  home,  as  we  all  know 
that  the  man  responsible  for  the  victory  in  this  county 
is  no  less  than  he. 

"S.  Glenn  Young  has  the  support  and  good  will  of 
every  law  abiding  citizen  of  Williamson  County  and  no 
one  has  a  greater  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of 
Williamson  County  than  he,  and  we  recommend  him  to 
the  world  as  a  perfect  gentleman,  honest,  true  and  up- 
right in  all  his  dealings,  but  a  terror  to  all  law  violators. 
As  an  officer  he  is  in  a  class  by  himself,  in  his  never- 
tiring  efforts  to  execute  the  enforcement  of  the  laws." 

This  statement  is  signed  by  Samuel  Sterns,  chair- 
man of  the  County  Board  of  Supervisors,  John  L. 
Whiteside  and  Fred  Simpson,  leaders  in  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan. 

Another  lie  deliberately  propagated  by  the  Ameri- 
can press  is  of  very  recent  date.  Under  the  heading, 
**Young  Ousted  From  East  St.  Louis  Klan",  they  have 
again  attacked  the  one  whom  it  is  not  in  their  interest 
to  support.  I  am  very  glad  that  this  and  similar 
articles,  under  the  Associated  Press  Head  in  regard  to 
Young  being  deposed  as  Kleagle  of  the  Klan,  have  been 
flatly  denied  by  Chas.  D.  McGehee,  Grand  Titan  of  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  I  quote  the  words 
of  this  worthy  man  in  regard  to  the  matter: 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  105 

"I  wish  to  state  as  Great  Titan  Province  No.  1, 
Realm  of  Illinois,  for  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  that  there  is 
not  a  word  of  truth  in  the  statement  furnished  for  the 
Associated  Press  by  a  certain  'official  of  the  United 
States  government'. 

"Glenn  Young  was  conscripted  for  clean-up  work 
inside  the  East  St.  Louis  Klan,  a  number  of  unworthy 
men  having  crept  into  that  organization.  He  has  done 
his  work  w^ell,  and  now  we  have  transferred  him  to  the 
publicity  department  at  his  own  request.  Rev.  Bob 
Evans  will  assume  control  of  the  East  St.  Louis  Klan 
as  a  local  man,  and  Young  will  be  used  on  the  platforai 
in  lecture  work." 

There  can  be  little  question  as  to  the  fundamental 
cause  of  the  unfair  attitude  of  the  press  toward  S. 
Glenn  Young  and  his  work  in  Williamson  County. 
Because  Mr.  Young  has  had  the  united  support  of  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  in  his  work  of  booting  the  bootlegger, 
and  because  the  press  is  dominated  by  other  than 
Protestant  interests,  vituperations  have  continued  to 
pour  through  their  columns.  The  press  of  Protestant 
America  is  so  controlled  by  predatory  and  ecclesiastical 
interests  that  it  is  no  longer  a  trustworthy  source  of 
information  when  these  interests  are  in  any  measure 
involved.  I  am  not  a  Protestant  bigot.  I  have  no  feel- 
ing against  any  man  simply  because  he  differs  in  his 
religious  beliefs  from  myself.  I  repudiate  religious 
intolerance  in  every  form,  and  hating  it,  I  protest  with 
all  my  soul  against  its  practice  through  a  press  largely 
controlled  by  the  Jew  and  the  Roman  Catholic.  The 
very  thing  which  they  whine  about  is  the  thing  which 

they  are  themselves  the  most  guilty  of unchanging 

intolerance.    There  is  a  profound,  widespread  and  grow- 


106  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS    OF 

ing  dissatisfaction  in  America  today  over  the  news- 
paper situation.  One  evidence  of  this  is  seen  in  the 
increase  of  smaller  newspapers  through  whose  columns 
an  effort  is  being  made  to  get  the  uncolored  truth  out 
to  the  public.  These,  of  course  reach  but  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  number  reached  by  the  big  dailies  and 
constitute  a  very  partial  solution  to  the  problem.  What 
we  must  have  is  a  change  of  mind  and  heart  on  the 
part  of  the  press. 

Is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  in  the  days  to  come 
we  will  see  instituted  on  the  part  of  great  American 
newspapers  a  reform  movement  resulting  in : — 

First,  The  collection  of  news  in  a  scientific  spirit, 
with  accuracy  of  statement  placed  above  all  other 
considerations. 

Second,  That  in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of 
the  news  collected  there  will  be  regard  for  real  rather 
than  for  sensational  values,  that  the  facts  will  be 
presented  in  the  right  perspective,  and  that  those 
facts  which  it  cannot  benefit  the  public  to  know  will 
be  excluded,  or  at  least  minimized  to  the  utmost. 

Third,  That  blind  adherence  to  the  shifting  opin- 
ions of  party  will  no  longer  be  peiTnitted  to  effect  self- 
stultification  as  it  has  done  with  more  than  one 
American  daily. 

Fourth,  That  religious  prejudice,  or  the  catering 
to  any  particular  religious  group  for  financial  gain 
will  cease. 
That  the  American  people  have  lost  well  nigh  all 
confidence  in  the  integrity  and  accuracy  of  their  news- 
papers I  am  certain.    That  a  return  to  the  idealism  of 
great  newspaper  men  of  a  former  day  is  possible  even 
in  this  very  practical  age  I  am  also  confident.  "How 
long,  0  Lord,  how  long?" 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  107 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  RAIDS 

rY^  HAT  a  big  job,  calling  for  red  blood,  nerve, 
I  courage,  wisdom  and  leadership  was  in  store 
"**  for  those  who  undertook  to  clean  up  Williamson 
County  is  evident  from  the  conditions  which  I  have 
described  in  a  previous  chapter.  Here  indeed  was  a 
task  worthy  of  men,  a  task  demanding  just  as  much  of 
the  hero  as  the  driving  back  of  the  Huns  from  the 
frontiers  of  France.  Here  was  a  task  calling  for  a 
fearless  officer,  one  possessing  the  same  qualifications 
which  caused  numbers  of  men  to  be  decorated  with 
distinguished  service  badges  ''over  there". 

Such  men  were  available,  and  at  least  1,000  of 
them  were  pledged  to  "carry  on"  until  the  task  was 
completed,  no  matter  what  the  cost,  Such  a  leader, 
wise,  intrepid,  experienced,  was  already  on  the  job  in 
the  person  of  S.  Glenn  Young,  the  scar  decorated  hero 
of  many  a  worthy  fight  against  criminal  and  desperate 
men. 

Authority?  He  had  plenty  of  it,  but  did  not  feel 
obligated  to  show  its  source  to  every  one  who  de- 
manded it.  He  was  not  fool  enough  to  play  into  the 
hands  of  crooked  politicians  and  side-stepping  officials 
and  dirty  bootleggers  by  working  under  false  pre- 
tenses. He  was  not  too  green  to  know  that  there  were 
plenty  of  laws  which  these  gentlemen  could  use  against 
him  if  he  acted  without  due  authority.  Perhaps  the 
best  answer  to  the  question,  ''Did  he  have  authority?" 
is  found  in  the  joints  closed  by  legal  injunction  and  by 
the  numerous  convictions  secured. 


108 


LIFE     A\  D     EXPLOITS     OF 


S.  Glenn   Young   Armed   and   Equipped   for   RaidinR  Operations 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOUNG  109 

To  satisfy  any  doubting  Thomas  who  remains, 
however,  I  present  herewith  a  deposition  made  by 
Mr.  Young  before  a  Notary  Public  in  Herrin. 

**S.  Glenn  Young  being  duly  sworn,  deposes  and 
says  that  he  was  a  Government  officer  during  the  raids 
in  Williamson  County,  Illinois,  during  the  latter  part 
of  nineteen  twentj^-three  and  the  early  part  of  nine- 
teen twenty-four,  and  that  the  arrests  that  were  made 
by  him  were  made  as  a  Government  Officer,  and  that 
he  had  full  authority  to  act  as  such,  notwithstanding 
the  recent  statement  of  United  States  District  Attor- 
ney W.  O.  Potter  to  the  contrary,  and  that  said  W.  0. 
Potter  made  said  statement  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
crediting the  clean-up  in  this  county,  and  that  Federal 
Judge  Lindley  did  not  rule  that  he  was  not  a  Govern- 
ment Officer  during  the  above  mentioned  raids.  He 
further  states  that  if  he  had  not  been  a  Government 
Officer  during  these  raids,  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment would  have  prosecuted  him  for  falsely  repre- 
senting himself  to  be  a  Government  Officer,  which  is 
a  felony  against  the  United  States  Government. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  this 

sixth  day  of  August,  1924.  S.  Glenn  Young 

Abe  Hicks, 
Notary  Public. 
It  was  two  days  before  Christmas.  A  goodly  sup- 
ply of  hard  stuff  was  on  tap  throughout  Williamson 
County  with  which  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  whose 
thirst  gives  them  unusual  trouble  at  Christmas  time. 
The  bootleggers  and  "soft  drink"  parlor  proprietors, 
in  other  words  the  thirty-seven  saloons  in  the  City  of 
Herrin  and  the  one-hundred-and-fifty  or  more  through- 


110  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

out  the  county,  were  expecting  a  big  business,  and 
nourished  by  this  well  founded  optimism  they  dreamed 
of  the  largely  increased  bank  accounts  which  would 
be  theirs,  even  after  the  official  *'rake-offs"  had  been 
paid. 

But,  as  Bobby  Burns  once  remarked : — 

"The  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  an'  men  gang  aft 
agley",  and  this  was  tragically  and  pathetically  true 
for  many  in  Williamson  County,  when  what  is  believed 
to  have  been  one  of  the  most  spectacular  and  largest 
raids  on  liquor  joints  ever  made  in  the  United  States 
was  made  by  600  or  more  members  of  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan,  under  the  leadership  of  S.  Glenn  Young.  Over 
150  arrests  of  persons  alleged  to  have  violated  the 
United  States  prohibitory  amendment  were  made.  The 
captured  men  included  Otis  Clark,  one  of  the  defend- 
ants in  the  Lester  Mine  massacre  of  June,  1922,  Mike 
Fortune,  .a  prominent  farmer  living  south-east  of 
Marion,  and  many  others  whose  names  are  familiar 
throughout  the  county. 

The  raids  had  been  thoroughly  planned  weeks  be- 
fore. Federal  agents  had  been  busy  securing  the  nec- 
essary evidence  upon  which  arrests  could  be  made, 
and  incidentally  discovering  marked  evidence  of 
collusion  between  law  violators  and  certain  so-called 
officers  of  the  law.  The  evidence  secured  took  in  prac- 
tically every  soft  drink  parlor  in  Williamson  County, 
and  several  similar  camouflaged  saloons  in  Franklin 
County. 

That  the  movement  was  in  prospect  was  well 
known  to  members  of  the  Klan,  but  not  until  the 
Tuesday  night  preceding  the  raids,  was  the  program 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  111 

for  the  night's  work  indicated.  On  that  evening,  fol- 
lowing a  meeting  of  the  organization,  a  selected  num- 
ber met  in  an  anteroom  of  their  meeting  place  and 
completed  all  necessary  arrangements.  Six  hundred 
members  of  the  Klan  were  then  notified  to  meet  at 
Carbondale,  in  Jackson  County,  on  Saturday  evening, 
ready  for  their  part  in  the  program  to  be  staged  in 
Williamson  and  Franklin  Counties. 

Would  anyone  give  the  tip  ?  Was  there  a  renegade 
among  that  company  who  held  the  secret?  Was  there 
a  Benedict  Arnold  who  would  play  traitor  to  his  soul, 
his  country,  his  friends  and  his  God?  Not  in  that  com- 
pany of  picked  men.  There  may  be  some  undesirable 
men  among  Klansmen.  There  are  in  most  every  or- 
ganization. But  the  men  carefully  chosen  for  the 
first  big  raids  in  Williamson  County  were  men  upon 
whom  their  leader  could  depend,  men  who  couldn't  be 
bought  or  scared. 

Long  before  the  appointed  hour  of  meeting,  cars 
from  all  directions  might  have  been  seen,  in  bunches 
of  two  to  five,  going  toward  the  appointed  place.  Most 
of  these  cars  hailed  from  Marion,  Herrin,  Johnston 
City  and  West  Frankfort. 

When  the  chosen  army  had  arrived,  Glenn  Young 
and  his  assistants  divided  it  into  small  groups,  assign- 
ing to  each  group  the  place  which  they  were  to  raid 
and  the  person  or  persons  to  be  arrested. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  appointed  hour,  every  group 
was  at  its  designated  place  of  action,  and  simultane- 
ously the  raids  were  carried  through,  thus  preventing 
any  opportunity  of  warning  being  sent  out  from  one 
raided  place  to  another. 


112 LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

In  most  cases  the  arrested  persons  submitted  with- 
out resistance,  but  in  some  localities  they  put  up  a  fight. 
At  Freeman,  a  small  community  north-east  of  Herrin, 
Federal  officer  Peters  was  shot  in  the  leg  by  one  of  the 
parties  in  the  place  being  raided. 

Otis  Clark,  leader  among  the  murder  defendants 
in  connection  with  the  Lester  Mine  riot,  and  who  con- 
ducted a  road  house  north  of  Herrin,  slipped  up  on  the 
party  which  was  raiding  his  place,  carrying  in  his 
hand  a  .45  automatic  revolver.  Fortunately  he  was 
disarmed  by  Federal  Officer  Young  before  he  had  a 
chance  to  shoot.  Clark  was  immediately  taken  to  Ben- 
ton and  placed  in  jail,  his  bond  being  fixed  at  $25,000 
for  attempted  murder. 

At  Freeman,  one  named  Loren  Rogers,  who  was 
arrested  on  a  former  occasion  for  manufacturing  and 
selling  liquor,  slipped  out  the  back  door  of  his  place 
while  the  officers  were  raiding  it,  went  around  to  the 
front  and  fired  eleven  shots,  one  of  which  struck  one 
of  his  own  patrons  in  the  head.  The  man's  cap  was 
found  later  with  a  bullet  hole  in  it.  Rogers  was  also 
taken  to  Benton,  and  thrown  into  jail,  his  bond  like- 
wise being  fixed  for  $25,000  for  attempted  murder. 

A  brother  of  Hugh  Willis,  well  known  United  Mine 
Worker  official,  was  also  disarmed  and  arrested  by 
Young  when  he  attempted  to  draw  a  revolver  on  him. 
His  bond  was  fixed  at  $15,000. 

Ora  Thomas,  arrested  at  Herrin,  claimed  when  ar- 
rested that  he  was  there  in  the  capacity  of  an  officer  of 
the  law  and  indeed  had  a  deputy  sheriff's  badge  and 
commission  which  is  funny  to  anyone  with  a  sense  of 
humor.     Well,  in  spite  of  his  alleged  official  capacity, 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  113 

several  hundred  dollars  in  gambling  money  and  para- 
phernalia found  in  his  place  were  turned  over  to  the 
Federal  officers. 

Mike  Fortune,  once  a  saloon  keeper  in  Springfield, 
Illinois,  but  now  engaged,  for  part  time,  in  the  less 
lucrative  but  far  more  honorable  occupation  of  farming, 
was  also  taken  into  custody  for  having  liquor  upon  his 
person.  Fortune  owns  a  splendid  farm  and  fine  brick 
residence  southeast  of  Marion. 

Oyt  near  what  is  known  as  No.  3  mine  Jake 
Mitchey's  place  was  raided.  Jake  added  a  touch  of 
comedy  to  the  serious  work  of  the  night  when  he  be- 
lieved that  the  raiders  were  going  to  hang  him  and 
fell  upon  his  knees  begging  that  he  might  first  be  per- 
mitted to  go  and  bid  good-bye  to  his  wife  and  children 
before  he  died.  When  Jake  was  assured  that  no  harm 
would  come  to  him  as  long  as  he  behaved  himself,  he 
heaved  a  deep  sigh  of  relief,  wiped  away  his  flowing 
tears,  and  quietly  submitted.  Well,  Jake  doesn't  differ 
much  from  many  others  in  the  county.  He  is  very 
much  like  corrupt  officials  all  over  the  nation  who  pro- 
tect the  ramified  liquor  traffic.  They  love  their  own 
wives  and  children,  in  many  cases,  but  they  don't  give 
a  picayune  for  the  wives  and  children  who  suffer  physi- 
cally, morally  and  mentally  because  of  the  dirty  boot- 
legging business  to  which  they  are  a  party.  It  would 
be  a  good  thing  for  some  of  the  wives  and  children  of 
these  corrupt  officials,  and  a  better  thing  for  society 
if  dad  would  kiss  them  good-bye  some  day  and  leave 
them  the  way  Jake  Mitchey  feared  he  was  going  to 
travel. 

This  concerted  raid  was  certainly  one  of  the  most 
efficient  ever  pulled  off  in  the  United  States.    The  eight 


114 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

weeks'  hard  work  of  Young  and  his  assistants,  who 
included  fornier  United  States  Marshal  George  Sim- 
cox,  who  recently  passed  away,  was  amply  repaid  by 
the  wonderful  success  achieved,  and  achieved,  bear  in 
mind,  without  the  loss  of  life.  ''Boys  don't  shoot 
unless  you  positively  have  to,"  has  been  Glenn's  fre- 
quent admonition  since  coming  to  the  county.  Human 
life  has  been  respected  by  him  and  his  associates  in 
the  work  of  reform. 

All  the  prisoners  arrested  in  these  spectacular 
raids  were  taken  to  Benton,  the  county-seat  of  Frank- 
lin Countj^,  where  they  were  either  compelled  to  fur- 
nish bond,  or  were  placed  in  jail  to  await  trial  before 
a  Federal  court.  As  they  were  being  brought  into 
Benton  a  great  crowd  quickly  gathered,  believing  that 
a  riot  was  in  progress.  There  was  intense  excitement 
as  group  after  group  of  raiders  brought  in  their  con- 
tingent of  prisoners.  Excited  spectators  filled  the 
streets  of  the  little  city,  and  the  day  of  justice  will  not 
soon  be  forgotten  by  those  who  were  there.  As  soon 
as  it  was  learned  that  Federal  officers  were  bringing 
in  alleged  bootleggers  and  whiskey  manufacturers,  one 
citizen  was  heard  to  remark,  'This  will  strike  the  fear 
of  God  into  their  hearts",  meaning  the  hearts  of  others 
engaged  in  the  same  business.  It  probably  takes  more 
than  that  to  strike  the  fear  of  God  into  the  hearts  of 
men,  but  it  may  be  that  into  the  hearts  of  some  down 
in  Williamson  and  Franklin  Counties  these  liquor 
raids  and  subsequent  convictions  have  served  to  strike 
the  fear  of  men,  men  whose  manhood  and  lives  are 
dedicated  to  the  cause  of  civic  righteousness,  men  who 
are  determined  that  their  sons  and  daughters  shall  no 
longer  be  menaced  by  the  vices  which  have  too  long 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  115 

exercised  their  baneful  influence  in  this  section  of  Illi- 
nois. It  is  devoutly  hoped  that  into  their  hearts  may 
come  the  fear  of  God,  for  if  that  comes  in,  life  will  be 
so  changed  that  there  need  be  no  fear  of  men  or  legal 
penalties. 

The  evidence  secured  for  presentation  to  court  was 
uncontrovertible.  ''Sales  evidence"  was  taken  by  the 
officers  in  every  case  raided,  which  meant  a  great  bulk 
of  liquid,  fifty-six  search  warrants  having  been  issued. 

Jailer  A.  H.  Baker  of  Benton  showed  seven  barrels 
of  booze,  five  five-gallon  jugs  of  liquor,  and  several 
cases  of  bottled  evidence  brought  in  from  the  joints 
raided. 

G.  J.  Simons,  General  Prohibition  Agent  at  Wash- 
ington, was  called  to  the  county  by  Mr.  Young  and 
here  he  deputized  all  who  participated  in  the  raids,  the 
first  two  of  which  were  with  Federal  authority.  Six 
hundred  men,  under  the  fine  leadership  of  S.  Glenn 
Young,  did  the  work.  A  far  larger  number  of  courage- 
ous, red  blooded  fellows  were  ready  to  go  on  the  same 
adventure,  for  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  over  seventy- 
five  per  cent  of  the  citizenship  of  Williamson  County 
was  behind  the  movement,  and  they  are  still  behind 
it  and  S.  Glenn  Young,  determined  to  make  the  clean- 
up permanent. 

But  someone  who  reads  these  lines  keeps  saying 
to  himself  that  all  house  cleaning  should  be  done 
''legally"  and  by  the  "constituted  authorities."  And 
that  is  true,  but  what  are  you  going  to  do  when  you 
can't?  What  are  you  going  to  do  when  your  "consti- 
tuted authority"  won't  exercise  its  authority?  I  am 
heartily  in  agreement  with  Judge  W.  W.  Duncan  of  the 
Illinois  Supreme  Court  when  he  says : — ^"My  idea  of  a 


116 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

clean-up,  gentlemen,  after  forty  years  of  experience 
as  an  attorney  and  a  judge  on  the  bench,  is  that  it 
takes  just  two  men  to  clean  up  the  bootleg  joints — and 
they  are  the  State's  Attorney  and  the  County  Judge." 

Judge  Duncan  well  says,  'The  State's  Attorney 
could  complain  to  the  County  Judge  if  the  sheriff  fails 
in  his  duty,  and  the  Judge  has  the  authority  to  pick 
any  man  in  the  county  to  do  the  work  of  the  sheriff." 

But  while  the  genial  and  efficient  Judge  makes 
those  remarks  he  knows,  as  well  as  the  writer  and 
thousands  of  others  know,  that  if  we  had  as  servants 
of  the  people  here  such  officers,  particularly  such  a 
State's  Attorney  as  he  has  in  mind,  S.  Glenn  Young 
and  the  locally  deputized  officers  who  assisted  him 
would  never  have  been  needed.  We  had  no  other  re- 
course, after  our  appeal  to  the  county  and  the  state  had 
failed  to  bring  about  the  desired  result — a  clean  county. 
What  the  ''constituted  authorities"  could  not  do  be- 
cause of  paralysis  produced  by  political  promises  to 
the  wrong  crowd,  S.  Glenn  Young,  the  Klan  and  other 
decent  law  abiding  citizens,  have  done,  and  done  it 
legally,  though  not  through  the  county  authorities. 
These  county  officers,  that  is  the  sheriff,  his  assistant, 
John  Layman,  and  the  State's  Attorney,  were  elected 
by  the  help  of  clean  people,  but  the  people  of  the 
county  who  thought  they  were  assuring  clean  govern- 
ment, were  double-crossed  by  these  officers  as  soon  as 
they  assumed  office. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  117 


ANOTHER  BIG  SATURDAY  NIGHT  RAID 

AS  if  determined  to  make  life  as  unendurable  as 
possible  for  thirsty  souls  in  Williamson  County, 
and  that  the  frequent  visitors  with  wet  inclina- 
tions should  find  the  county  too  dry  to  be  fascinating, 
another  enthusiastic  visit  was  paid  alleged  illicit 
liquor  joints  on  Saturday  evening,  January  5th,  by  S. 
Glenn  Young,  deputized  citizens,  and  several  hundred 
members  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  They  were  deputized 
by  Victor  Armitage  and  Mr.  Simons,  Federal  Prohibi- 
tion Agents. 

It  had  been  less  than  two  weeks  since  the  first  big 
raid  was  carried  through,  but  many  apparently  sup- 
posed that  it  was  quite  safe  to  go  back  into  business, 
that,  as  in  the  case  of  raids  made  for  election  purposes, 
they  would  not  be  bothered  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
The  fact  that  so  many  taken  in  the  first  raid  were 
again  taken  in  the  net  shows  that  the  bootleggers  and 
saloon  men  had  not  yet  been  convinced  that  it  was  a 
war  to  the  finish  instead  of  a  spectacular  and  exciting 
game  of  which  Glenn  Young  and  his  forces  would  soon 
tire. 

The  raiding  forces  congregated  at  Marion,  where 
they  were  duly  instructed  as  to  the  night's  program. 
From  here  the  dry  crusaders  started  out  on  their 
nocturnal  expedition,  which  they  had  reason  to  antici- 
l)ate  would  be  full  of  thrills  and  stills.  And  it  was, 
and  history  records  that  when  the  battle  was  over,  and 
the  smoke  had  cleared  away,  both  wets  and  drys  had 
experienced  several  kinds  of  thrills — but  the  drys  had 
the  stills,  together  with  their  owners,  who  were  given 


118 LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 

a  free  ride  to  Benton,  county-seat  of  Franklin  County, 
where  they  were  compelled  to  give  bond,  or  to  remain 
in  the  local  bastile  for  future  disposition,  at  which 
time  perhaps  they  will  have  sense  enough  to  learn  that 
Ijreaking  the  liquor  laws  is  not  so  much  a  game  as  a 
crime,  a  crime  for  which  they  will  no  longer  simply  be 
slapped  on  the  wrist  and  discharged  with  a  smile,  but 
one  for  which  they  will  suffer  the  inconvenience  of  a 
heavy  fine,  plus  the  added  inconvenience  of  imprison- 
ment. 

Among  the  interesting  scenes  in  the  drama  of  this 
Saturday  evening  were  these : — 

Over  at  Cagle's  Park,  just  West  of  Marion,  there 
was  a  roadhouse  of  which  Hosea  Cagle  was  the  man- 
ager, and  in  which  alcohol  was  the  moving  spirit.  As 
Cagle  still  had  the  prospect  of  a  good  night's  business 
he  was  inclined  to  argue  the  matter  of  arrest,  indeed 
he  even  went  so  far  with  his  arguments  as  to  forcibly 
resist,  but  the  equally  forceful  arguments  of  the  raid- 
ers were  finally  so  persuasive  that  he  surrendered  to 
the  inevitable,  where  on  Monday  morning  he  appeared 
before  Commissioner  Hart  at  Benton  and  was  con- 
signed to  the  Franklin  County  law  violators'  dentention 
parlors  in  default  of  $2,000  bond. 

Hosea  Cagle  has  since  passed  into  the  presence  of 
the  highest  and  holiest,  into  whose  presence  he  was 
hurled  but  a  few  days  ago,  when  at  2:00  o'clock  in  the 
morning  he  drove  into  a  thick  cable  stretched  across 
a  road  which  was  being  repaired.  He  is  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  earth's  courts,  and  we  can  only  hope 
for  him  the  mercy  of  God. 

At  Johnson  City,  in  the  eastern  end  of  the  county, 
Al.  E.  Hartwell  was  visited  and  his  place  investigated 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 119 

without  waiting  for  any  formal  invitation  from  Al.,  a 
rather  versatile  fellow,  who,  not  satisfied  wath  the 
common  game  of  selling  illicit  liquor,  is  reputed  to  have 
added  as  a  side  line  and  addition,  the  manufacture  of 
Federal  Internal  Revenue  Stamps.  These  he  is  also 
alleged  to  have  distributed,  for  a  due  consideration  no 
doubt.  When  this  gentleman  with  a  wet  name  and 
wet  occupation  was  arrested  he  had  thirty  or  forty  of 
these  Government  Stamps  in  his  possession,  and  about 
a  dozen  photographic  reproductions  of  the  stamps  used 
on  whiskey  bottles.  The  enterprising  Hartwell  was 
transferred  from  his  place  of  business  to  one  in  Frank- 
lin County,  where  he  was  charged  with  the  possession 
of  illicit  liquor  and  forged  Government  Stamps.  His 
bond  was  fixed  at  $10,000. 

Tono  Coloni  of  Herrin,  a  representative  of  the  sixty 
per  cent  Italians  who  never  become  American  citizens, 
also  had  some  Saturday  night  thrills,  followed  by  some 
Sunday  morning  blues.  There  are  some  ver>^  fine 
Italian  citizens  in  Herrin  and  throughout  Williamson 
County.  They  are  not  reflected  upon  at  all  when  men 
like  Tono  and  others  get  into  trouble,  any  more  than 
American  citizens  who  are  decent  and  law  abiding  are 
reflected  upon  by  those  American  born  whites  who  do 
most  of  the  killing  in  Williamson  County.  It  wasn't  a 
foreigner  who  shot  out  the  beautiful  eyes  of  Mrs.  S. 
Glenn  Young.  Don't  forget  that.  And  they  were  not 
foreigners  who  were  guilty  of  the  awful  slaughter  of 
those  non-union  men  back  in  June,  1922.  Most  of  the 
liquor  violations  in  Williamson  County  have  been  on 
the  part  of  foreigners,  but  Tono  Coloni  is  no  worse 
than  the  rest  of  them,  and  not  nearly  as  bad  as  the  men 
who  use  the  foreigner  for  a  **stool-pigeon,"  a  source 


120  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

of  illegal  revenue,  and  as  a  vote  getter.  Well,  I  started 
to  tell  you  about  Tono.  He  evidently  had  a  hobby  for 
collecting  pint  bottles  bearing  the  label,  '*Hill  and  Hill". 
The  contents  of  those  bottles  were  found,  upon  exam- 
ination, to  contain  liquid  of  the  moonkist  quality.  The 
stamps  with  which  the  bottles  were  decorated  were 
more  interesting  than  any  from  Ceylon  or  Hindustan, 
being  clever  forgeries  of  Government  Stamps.  I  do 
not  know  Tono's  present  hobby,  but  Glenn  and  the 
Klan  have  thoroughly  discouraged  the  one  for  bottle 
and  stamp  collecting.  The  moral  is  that  when  you 
take  up  anything  as  a  hobby,  first  sit  down  and  try  and 
figure  out  whether  it  will  ultimately  pay. 

This  record  of  activities  upon  the  county  stage 
would  be  incomplete  without  mention  of  the  part 
played  by  Carterville's  Chief  of  Police,  Alvin  Thomas. 
Alvin  is  a  brother  of  Ora  Thomas,  recently  released 
from  jail  where  he  served  a  term  on  a  liquor  charge. 
It  is  the  same  Ora  Thomas  whom  a  witness  declared 
fired  one  of  the  shots  into  the  person  of  Caesar  Cagle, 
who  was  killed  on  February  8th.  It  is  the  same  man 
who  was  with  Whitey  Doering,  convicted  mail  robber, 
when  Doering  was  killed  in  a  quarrel  out  at  Half  Way, 
a  criminal  resort  not  far  from  Marion,  a  few  months 
ago.  It  is  the  same  Ora  Thomas,  whom  sheriff  of 
Williamson  County  made  one  of  his  deputies  just  after 
he  came  out  of  jail  recently,  and  an  intimate  associate 
of  City  Judge  Bowen  of  Herrin  and  State's  Attorney 
Delos  Duty. 

Alvin  Thomas  had  promised  to  clean  the  so-called 
soft  drink  parlors  out  of  Carterville  if  he  was  made 
Chief  of  Police.  They  were  cleaned  out,  and  possibly 
Alvin  should  have  the  credit  for  it.    But  the  chief  was 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  121 

SO  humorously  inconsistent,  for  whereas,  he  faithfully 
guarded  Carterville  by  day  he  was  equally  faithful  in 
guarding  a  liquor  joint  East  of  Carterville  by  night. 
It  was  out  at  Durant's  place,  a  new  oasis,  that  Alvin 
showed  such  loyalty  to  his  friends.  On  the  evening  of 
January  5th,  the  place  was  raided  for  the  second  time 
inside  thirty  days.  The  raiders  surrounded  the  place, 
and  ordered  the  occupants  out,  planting  machine  guns 
at  convenient  spots  to  sweep  the  building  if  any  shots 
were  fired.  Alvin  Thomas  was  obstinate  and  only 
yielded  to  the  argument  of  legitimate  force  directed 
against  the  head,  which  had  been  somewhat  slow  to 
grasp  the  fact  that  the  raiders  were  not  kids  with 
pea-shooters  playing  a  Hallowe'en  lark.  Alvin  recov- 
ered from  his  self-invited  wound,  but  has  not  yet  re- 
covered the  position  of  Chief  of  Police  in  Carterville. 
It  would  not  occasion  any  surprise,  however,  if  the 
Sheriff  were  to  appoint  him  as  one  of  his  deputies  to- 
morrow. 

Durant's  place  contained  concealed  dynamite.  It 
seems  that  is  was  planned  to  blow  up  the  building 
when  the  officers  stepped  inside. 

"The  Little  Napoleon  Stays  With  Them" 

S.  Glenn  Young  has  been  nicknamed  ''the  little 
Napoleon".  Certainly  he  has  some  Napoleonic  quali- 
ties, something  of  his  leadership  and  courage  and 
something  of  his  "stick-to-it-iveness". 

Sunday  was  quite  calm  in  Herrin  and  throughout 
the  county.  Prayers  ascended  from  the  hearts  of 
thousands  of  worshipers  who  congregated  in  the  splen- 
did churches  of  its  thriving  towns.  It  is  suspected 
that  curses  strong  and  long  also  popped  out  of  the 


122 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS    OF 

mouths  of  hundreds  of  law  violators,  some  of  whom 
were  behind  prison  bars,  and  others  with  the  court 
in  prospect  and  with  jail  on  the  horizon  beyond.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  some  curses  also  parched  the  lips 
of  certain  officials,  whose  incompetency  and  willful 
neglect  of  duty  was  receiving  nation-wide  advertise- 
ment through  the  aggressive  work  of  Young  and  the 
Klan.  And  that  reminds  me  of  a  good  line  in  a  letter 
received  recently  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  fa- 
mous men  in  the  Secret  Service  Department  of  the 
United  States  Government.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Henry  E. 
Thomas  of  Charlotte,  N.  C.  In  speaking  in  the  highest 
terms  of  Glenn  Young,  both  from  the  standpoint  of 
character  and  achievement,  especially  as  he  had  ob- 
served his  work  down  in  that  section,  he  says,  ''the 
only  enemies  he  had  were  the  criminals  and  a  few 
jealous  officers'*. 

On  Monday  afternoon  at  4:30  o'clock.  Young  and 
several  hundred  duly  deputized  men  began  writing  an- 
other chapter  in  the  story  of  Williamson  County  raids. 
They  kept  on  writing  it  until  ten  o'clock  that  night. 
In  that  interval  scores  of  bootleg  joints  were  raided 
by  the  unmasked  squads  of  volunteers.  Herrin, 
Marion,  Weaver,  Freeman  and  other  moist  centers 
were  visited  and  violators  taken  into  custody. 

In  Herrin  the  raiders  visited  the  Jefferson  Bar, 
kept  by  Marlow  and  Lavan.  It  was  outside  this  bar 
that  Constable  Caesar  Cagle  was  brutally  murdered 
on  the  night  of  February  8th,  and  for  which  crime 
the  Shelton  brothers  were  indicted.  Pete  Marlow,  who 
is  something  of  a  prize  fighter  as  well  as  a  vender  of 
*'soft"  drinks,  and  Lavan,  his  partner,  were  arrested. 
Chief  of  Police  Stallions  and  another  officer  were  in 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  123 

the  saloon  and  put  up  their  hands  with  the  crowd. 
Glenn  gave  them  definite  orders  to  *'beat  it",  and  they 
acred  wisdom's  part  and  got  out.  There  were  about 
twenty-five  gamblers,  and  other  crooks  of  various 
talent,  in  the  place  at  the  time.  The  proprietors  and 
two  others,  said  to  be  half  owners  in  the  alcoholic  dis- 
pensary were  taken  to  Benton  to  fill  bonds. 

Whipped  curs  usually  howl,  and  "Stop  Thief"!  is  a 
worn  gag  still  used  to  detract  attention  from  the  actual 
wrong  doer.  Following  the  raid  on  the  saloon  above 
mentioned  warrants  were  sworn  out  charging  Young, 
with  taking  $3,000  from  the  place  when  it  was  raided. 
Warrants  were  also  sworn  out  by  pugilistic  Pete 
charging  other  klansmen  with  larceny.  These  charges 
are  but  specimens  of  hundreds  such  trumped  up 
against  law  enforcement  officers  who  do  their  duty 
and  put  the  lawless  element  where  they  belong.  It  is, 
of  course,  a  source  of  embarrassment  to  men  like  S. 
Glenn  Young,  who  has  a  reputation  for  honesty,  espe- 
cially when  an  unfriendly  press  so  often  exploits  the 
false  and  ignores  the  true.  As  to  the  outcome  of 
these  wounded  cur  charges  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
they  are  doomed  to  failure. 

Such  tactics  as  these  on  the  part  of  the  victims  of 
law  were  inevitable.  Everything  that  they  and  the 
500  deputized  thugs  from  St.  Louis,  Chicago  and  other 
centers,  could  do  to  discredit  the  raids  was  immedi- 
ately done,  and  is  still  being  done.  Hence  the  need, 
in  part,  of  this  authentic  story  of  what  really  hap- 
pened. 

State  Troops  Sent  to  Williamson 

"Situation  is  getting  beyond  control.  Fear  riot  is 
coming.    Rush  troops  at  once."    This  was  the  message 


124  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

received  at  Springfield  from  Sheriff  George  Galligan 
of  Williamson  County  on  January  8th.  The  troops 
were  called  out  by  Governor  Len  Small  through  Adju- 
tant General  Carlos  E.  Black.  The  three  companies 
called  and  ordered  to  proceed  to  Marion  were,  Com- 
pany I  of  Salem;  L  of  Mt.  Vernon;  and  K  of  Cairo, 
all  of  the  130th  Infantry  and  in  command  of  Major 
W.  P.  Graney  of  Cairo.  These  troops  arrived  on  the 
evening  of  Tuesday  the  8th.  They  immediately 
marched  to  the  court  house  where  they  took  up 
quarters  for  the  night.  The  officers  in  charge  con- 
sisted of  General  Black,  Colonel  Si.  Tripp,  and  Captain 
Burke  of  the  Adjutant  General's  office;  Major  Omer  J. 
McMacklin  of  Salem;  Major  Will  Graney  of  Cairo; 
Captain  Bigelow  of  Salem ;  Captain  Labar  of  Company 
L.,  Mt.  Vernon. 

Upon  arrival  the  soldiers  naturally  expected  to  see 
a  crowd  of  rioters,  a  city  full  of  armed  citizens.  Much 
to  their  surprise  they  found  a  jolly,  good  natured 
crowd,  quietly  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  militia,  the 
need  for  which  they  could  not  understand.  One  officer 
remarked  to  a  local  newspaper  reporter  that  instead 
of  trouble  it  looked  to  him  as  though  everybody  was 
either  going  or  coming  from  Sunday  school.  He 
wanted  to  know  the  reason  for  troops  being  ordered 
into  a  peaceful  community. 

The  night  passed  without  any  disturbing  element, 
while  the  mump  stricken  sheriff  lay  safely  guarded  by 
the  militia  in  his  fine  brick  domicile.  Wednesday 
morning  saw  the  arrival  of  numerous  newspaper  men 
from  the  big  city  dailes,  eager  to  wire  a  real  thriller 
of  blood  spilling  to  their  metropolitan  bosses.  Some 
of  them  must  have  wept  with  chagrin  and  disappoint- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 125 

ment  when  they  found  an  atmosphere  where  the  dove 
of  peace  would  feel  perfectly  at  home. 

All  day  Wednesday  leading  citizens,  ministers  and 
business  men,  could  be  heard  expressing  condemnation 
of  the  act  ordering  troops,  for  which  there  was  not 
the  slightest  need.  It  was  their  conviction  that  no- 
body wanted  the  troops  but  the  lawless  element  which 
was  being  run  to  earth. 

Of  course  the  sheriff  gave  the  eager  St.  Louis 
Globe  Democrat  and  other  papers  a  colored  account, 
and  one  at  variance  with  the  known  facts  in  many  in- 
stances. Of  more  than  twenty-five  leading  business 
men  and  citizens  interviewed  not  one  of  the  number 
expressed  the  opinion  that  troops  were  necessary  in 
any  part  of  the  county,  much  less  in  Marion. 

S.  Glenn  Young  informed  the  Post  reporter  that 
the  stories  of  brutality  by  raiding  officers  was  entirely 
unfounded,  and  that  stories  of  taking  money  and 
jewelry  from  prisoners  are  false.  He  declared  that 
witnesses  by  the  dozen  will  be  furnished  to  prove  every 
statement.  He  affirmed  that  a  remarkable  feature  of 
the  raids,  is  the  fact,  that  no  serious  injury  was  in- 
flicted on  anyone.  'The  truth  will  come  out  at  the 
trial,"  declared  Young,  and  I  am  sure  nobody  doubts 
the  outcome. 

Chief  of  Police  Boyd  told  this  same  reporter  that 
he  had  a  confession  from  the  woman  alleged  to  have 
been  assaulted  by  the  officers  that  she  had  jumped  upon 
them  when  they  entered  her  home  to  conduct  a  raid, 
and  had  the  officer  bj^  the  throat  when  he  pushed  her 
aside  to  continue  his  search.  The  same  woman  had 
fought  this  police  officer  three  months  before  when  he 
had  raided  her  place. 


126  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

The  author  has  in  his  possession  a  home-made 
stiletto,  which  an  Italian  woman  pulled  on  S.  Glenn 
Young  in  one  of  the  raids.  I  confess  that  if  any 
woman  pulled  such  a  weapon  on  me  I  would  forget 
her  sex  in  that  very  moment  and  deal  with  her  on 
other  than  sex  grounds.  And  yet,  I  have  it  from  an 
eye  witness  that  Mr.  Young  simply  took  hold  of  her 
in  a  firm  manner  and  swung  her  around  out  of  his 
way,  at  the  same  time  taking  the  instrument  with 
which  she  w^ould  have  killed  him,  out  of  her  hands.  The 
sheriff  told  a  reporter  that  in  at  least  one  case  he  had 
been  informed  that  a  woman  had  been  struck  in  mak- 
ing her  arrest.    Troops!    Troops! 

And  that  reminds  one  of  the  story  that  appeared  in 
Everybody's  Magazine  a  few  months  ago.  It  seems 
that  a  bunch  of  gunmen  started  a  reign  of  terror  in  a 
certain  Texas  town,  and  that  the  terror  stricken  Mayor 
of  the  place  wired  frantically  to  the  Governor  for 
Texas  Rangers  to  be  sent  and  restore  peace.  A  special 
train  came  down  from  the  capital,  and  one  lonesome 
ranger  stepped  out. 

''Where's  the  rest  of  the  outfit,"  demanded  the 
Mayor  and  Sheriflf. 

"Rest ■'  replied  the  ranger  mildly.     ''You 

ain't  got  but  one  riot  have  you  ?" 

Troops  were  not  needed  in  Marion  or  anywhere  else 
in  Williamson  County  at  this  time.  Wliat  was  needed 
was  a  sheriff  with  just  half  the  nerve  of  the  Texas 
Ranger — but  then  I  forgot  the  sheriff  had  the  mumps 
or  infantile  paralysis  or  some  such  children's  disease 
at  the  time. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 127 

Troops  are  Strongly  Protested 

At  noon  on  Wednesday,  January  9th,  a  meeting  of 
ministers  and  other  prominent  citizens  was  held  at  the 
First  Christian  Church  of  Marion,  and  the  following 
protest  was  drawn  up,  authorized  and  handed  to  Adju- 
tant General  Black : 

Marion,  Illinois, 
January  9th,  1924. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Marion  Ministerial  Alliance, 
Mayor  J.  H.  Clarida  and  Chief  of  Police  Schafer  of  the 
City  of  Marion,  sitting  with  them,  it  was  unanimously 
decided  that  we  feel  that  when  you  have  made  a  thor- 
ough investigation  of  the  condition  in  Williamson 
County,  you  will  find  that  there  will  be  no  further 
need  for  troops,  and  that  you  will  recommend  their  re- 
moval, as  we  believe  there  was  no  condition  existing 
that  justified  the  sheriff  in  making  his  request  for 
them. 

A.  M.  Stickney,  President. 
L.  H.  Knight,  Secretary, 

In  a  meeting  held  shortly  after  this  in  the  office  of 
the  Citizen's  Trust  and  Banking  Company,  attended 
by  bankers  and  other  representative  citizens,  the 
opinion  was  freely  expressed  that  troops  were  not 
needed  in  the  county,  and  that  the  Sheriff  and  State's 
Attorney  were  not  doing  their  duty  as  officers  of  the 
law. 

These  united  protests  from  responsible  citizens  ul- 
timately had  their  desired  effect,  and  an  order  for  the 
recall  of  the  troops  was  issued  from  Springfield  on 
January  15th,  as  a  result  of  which  the  Mt.  Vernon  and 
Cairo  companies  of  State  Militia  left  for  home  the 
same  night,  the  Salem  company  remaining  for  a  day 


128  LIFE     A  X  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

or  SO  longer.  Thus  ended  for  the  boys  in  uniform  a 
week's  rest  at  the  expense  of  the  county.  While  in 
Herrin  and  Marion  they  had  little  to  do  apart  from 
the  regulation  exercises.  Many  of  them  were  enter- 
tained by  various  churches  and  clubs,  and  as  a  result 
of  their  fine  treatment,  and  the  many  splendid  people 
whom  they  met,  the  boys  carried  away  a  far  different 
impression  of  Williamson  County  than  that  with  which 
they  came. 

Glenn  Thwarts  Coup  of  Herrin  Wets 

Thwarting  a  reported  coup  of  the  bootlegging  ring 
of  the  county  to  make  a  ''last  stand"  against  the  en- 
croachment of  the  law,  and  raid  the  vault  containing 
all  the  "evidence"  against  prohibition  violators, 
Young  bundled  up  his  161  bottles  of  ''moon"  on  Friday 
evening,  January  12th,  and  slipped  out  of  Marion 
under  cover  of  darkness. 

He  motored  to  Chicago  with  the  coveted  cargo  of 
effervescent  liquid  and  safely  cached  the  evidence  in 
the  vaults  of  the  Federal  Prohibition  Office,  where  it 
remained  ready  for  use  when  the  cases  came  up  on  the 
docket. 

At  this  time  no  less  than  three  hundred  cases  were 
pending  in  the  Federal  Court  at  Danville.  Concern- 
ing these.  Young  told  the  press,  "We've  got  the  goods 
on  evei-y  one  of  those  300,  backed  by  the  testimony  of 
the  most  reputable  citizens  of  the  county.  We  expect 
convictions  in  99  per  cent  of  the  cases,  and  inasmuch 
as  25  per  cent  of  the  defendants  have  been  convicted 
previously,  we  hope  to  send  that  number  to  the  peni- 
tentiary. We've  finally  got  that  gang  on  the  run,  and 
we're  going  to  keep  them  going.     They've  been  in  the 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 129 

saddle  down  there  for  years  and  a  clean  county  is 
something  new  to  them". 

The  Story  of  The  Raids— Continued 

The  person  who  wrote  the  song,  "John  Barleycorn 
Is  Dead",  was  just  as  far  from  the  truth  as  the  other 
individual  who  wrote,  "It  Ain't  Gk)in'  To  Rain  No 
More".  It  is  said  that  Mark  Twain  was  once  met  on  the 
street  by  an  old  acquaintance  who  hadn't  seen  him  for 
years.  With  a  surprised  look  on  his  face  the  man  ex- 
claimed, "WTiy  Mark,  I  heard  you  were  dead",  to 
which  the  incurable  wit  replied  "Well,  that  report  was 
greatly  exaggerated". 

After  the  raids  of  December  22nd,  January  5th  and 
7th,  one  might  have  supposed  that  John  Barleycorn 
had  been  buried  in  Williamson  County.  But  John  has 
the  proverbial  cat  outclassed  entirely  in  the  matter  of 
lives.  On  January  20th,  he  was  still  doing  business  at 
the  old  stand  in  the  county,  and  was  at  his  morning 
devotions  very  early  on  this  Sunday  when  Young  and 
other  officers,  assisted  by  several  hundred  citizens, 
mostly  Klansmen,  interfered  with  his  devotional 
exercises. 

The  citizens  and  Klansmen  who  constituted  the 
crusading  army  were  sworn  in  at  West  Frankfort  by 
Victor  L.  Armitage,  and  from  there  the  posse  started 
on  the  round  up,  possibly  thinking  that,  "the  better  the 
day  the  better  the  deed".  The  early  morning  itiner- 
ary included  Herrin,  Johnston  City,  Colp,  Weaver, 
Spillertown,  Paulton,  and  a  few  outlying  districts.  As 
a  result  of  this  scoop  125  or  more  men  began  the  Sab- 
bath in  the  toil  of  the  law\ 


130 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

The  Springfield  representative  of  the  Associated 
Press,  Mr.  Cribb,  was  invited  by  Glenn  Young  to  ac- 
company the  raiding  party  that  he  might  see  at  first 
hand  how  the  raids  were  conducted,  and  that  no  illegal 
act  was  committed.  The  newspaper  man  was  sworn 
in  as  a  deputy,  and  many  who  saw  him  at  work  were 
agreed  that,  'There  is  indeed  a  man,  brave  and  un- 
afraid of  anything".  Mr.  Cribb  saw  for  himself  that 
the  stories  of  abuse  and  loot  were  simply  base  fabrica- 
tions. 

The  entire  raid  of  that  early  Sunday  morning  was 
conducted  without  trouble.  Only  one  shot  was  fired 
and  that  by  a  Federal  Officer,  and  it  happened  thus: 
At  one  place  which  was  raided  a  box  was  seen  near 
the  man's  house  heavily  padlocked.  Upon  being  re- 
quested to  open  the  box,  the  owner  said,  ''Me  no  hava 
da  key".  The  Federal  Ofliicer  trained  his  gun  on  the 
lock,  fired  and  blew  it  off.  Inside  the  box  was  dis- 
covered the  reason  why  the  foreigner  "no  hava  da 
key".  It  contained  a  quantity  of  moisture  inspired 
with  too  large  a  percentage  of  alcohol  to  meet  with  Mr. 
Volstead's  requirements.  The  keyless  owner  was 
taken  to  a  Benton  institution,  from  which  he  doubtless 
would  gladly  have  escaped,  but  alas,  "Me  no  hava  da 
key". 

Over  at  Paulton,  a  small  mining  community  lying 
North  and  East  of  Marion,  the  raiders  were  given 
entrance  to  a  home  and  asked  for  a  drink,  saying  that 
they  were  peaceable  friends.  The  owner  was  delight- 
fully hospitable,  seated  them  comfortably,  went  to  the 
kitchen  and  returned  bearing  with  him  some  whiskey 
glasses  and  a  bottle  of  the  stuff  that  makes  a  mouse 
feel  big  enough  to  fight  an  elephant.     He  filled  the 


RAIDER   S.    GLENN    YOUNG 131 

glasses  with  Sunday  measure  and  told  the  company  to 
"drink  hearty".  But  ''there's  many  a  slip  twixt  the 
cup  and  the  lip".  One  of  the  officers  remarked  to  the 
man,  "That's  enough — stick  'em  up".  And  the  episode 
closed  for  the  time  being  when  the  liberal  dispenser 
of  alcoholic  good  cheer  "raised  'em",  and  was  escorted 
to  the  Benton  jail  there  to  meditate  upon  the  ingrati- 
tude of  his  fellow  men,  and  to  lament  "love's  labors 
lost". 

At  another  questionable  place  the  owner's  con- 
science being  very  tender  prompted  him  to  fly,  and 
through  the  morning  gloom  he  glumly  glided  toward 
a  creek  which  slowly  meandered  not  far  away.  When 
his  pursuers  arrived  at  the  creek  they  failed  to  see 
him,  until,  looking  about  more  carefully  they  discov- 
ered a  pair  of  feet  and  ankles  encased  in  boots,  sticking 
out  from  a  brush  pile.  An  enthusiastic  pull  brought 
out  the  remaining  parts  of  Mr.  Bootlegger,  who  like 
the  foolish  ostrich,  evidently  thought  that  if  his  head 
and  body  was  hidden  he  would  escape  detection. 

And  listen,  ye  thirsty  sons  of  Bachus,  at  one  place 
twenty  barrels  of  good,  tasty,  sparkling  wine  were 
found. 

In  Herrin  the  Adjutant  General  requested  Young 
to  cease  raiding,  and  that  he  and  his  deputies  work  in 
harmony  with  Sheriff  Galligan,  to  which  the  law  en- 
forcement officer  replied : — "I  positively  refuse  to  line 
up  with  a  bunch  of  crooks.  I  never  have  and  I  never 
will;  and  if  you  are  sent  here  as  you  say  to  co-operate 
with  the  sheriff's  office  I  refuse  to  co-operate  with  you 
or  to  permit  any  man  with  me  to  do  likewise".  He 
reminded  the  officer  that  at  the  time  troops  were 
needed,  and  the  best  citizens  of  the  county  wanted 


132 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

them  to  prevent  the  Herrin  massacre,  and  although  he, 
Colonel  Black,  was  on  the  job  and  knew  the  whole 
situation,  he  refused  to  act.  And  that  now,  when 
there  was  no  necessity  for  troops,  and  all  good  citizens 
had  protested  against  them,  he  had  ignored  their 
protest. 

Johnston  City  Joints  Jolted 

French  and  Italian  liquor  joints  in  particular  were 
hit  in  the  raid  made  by  Young  and  the  Klan  on  Friday, 
February  1st.  Johnston  City  has  quite  a  large  per- 
centage of  French  and  Italian  people.  These,  it  seems, 
had  not  yet  learned  that  the  Eighteenth  Amendment 
had  been  passed. 

The  Klansmen  and  others  who  assisted  Glenn 
Young  in  the  raids  of  this  particular  night  were  depu- 
tized by  Brady  Jenkins  of  Williamson  County.  State 
search  warrants  were  provided  for  the  occasion.  Fol- 
lowing the  regular  plan,  the  raiders  were  divided  into 
groups  of  five,  and  instructed  to  raid  the  places 
assigned  them  at  a  certain  time. 

Fully  160  law  violators  were  taken  during  the 
night.  Among  those  taken  were  seven  women  and  one 
police  officer.  The  later  was  taken  into  camp  at  Dew- 
maine,  a  colored  community  just  a  mile  or  so  North 
of  Carterville.  This  dark  complected  gentleman  bears 
the  name  of  Jim  Brown,  and  was  the  deputy  sheriff 
of  the  colored  settlement.  Incidentally,  he  was  also  a 
defendant  in  the  riot  trials  of  1922.  When  arrested 
he  had  a  gallon  of  mule  in  his  possession.  He  was 
handcuffed  to  the  proprietor  of  the  place  raided  and 
consigned  to  jail  to  await  further  notice. 

In  Johnston  City  the  raids  yielded  the  largest  re- 
turns.    Here  too  the  only  serious  trouble  was  en- 


RAIDER   S.    GLENN   YOUNG 133 

countered  when  four  Leonard  brothers,  Frank,  Joe, 
John  and  James,  said  to  be  members  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus,  attempted  to  beat  one  of  the  raiding  officers 
over  the  head  with  a  gun.  They  were  arrested  before 
doing  much  damage,  however,  later  to  face  the  addi- 
tional charge  of  assault  and  battery  and  resisting  an 
officer  of  the  law. 

Joe  Podner,  alleged  slayer  of  Ray  Williams  a 
farmer  of  Johnston  City  was  among  those  taken,  as 
also  were  Emil  and  Louis  Maroni  and  Caesar  Colombo. 
By  far  the  majority  taken  in  the  raids  were  foreigners. 

When  all  the  prisoners  had  been  rounded  up,  Glenn 
Young  chartered  a  special  train  and  conveyed  them  to 
Benton.  Here,  upon  their  arrival,  two  rows  of  Klans- 
men,  probably  400  or  500  yards  long,  lined  up  to  the 
court  house,  and  the  prisoners  marched  between  them 
to  the  office  of  Commissioner  Hart,  there  to  give  bond, 
or  be  sent  to  jail. 

Following  these  Johnston  City  raids  there  was  a 
great  cry  of  persecution,  and  complaints  on  the  part 
of  the  French  and  Italian  people  against  Young's  ac- 
tivities. The  Italian  representative  took  up  the  case 
at  Springfield  and  issued  a  tissue  of  lies  through  the 
press  in  regard  to  the  raids.  It  was  just  recently  that 
this  same  man  used  his  office  to  prevent  Missouri  legal 
authorities  from  taking  back  to  that  state  a  cold- 
blooded murderer  whom  several  sheriffs  and  other  offi- 
cers had  positively  identified.  The  result  was  that  the 
man  was  liberated. 

The  French  Consul  also  took  up  the  defense  of  his 
people  and  appealed  to  Washington  in  an  effort  to  pre- 
vent the  raiding  of  French  homes,  although  liquor  had 
been  found  in  every  home  raided.     The  French  people 


134  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

of  Williamson  County,  as  well  as  Italians,  and  other 
foreigners  seem  slow  to  learn,  in  many  cases,  that  they 
are  amenable  to  Uncle  Sam's  laws.  Is  it  a  matter  of 
surprise,  however,  that  they  have  been  so  slow  to  learn 
it  in  this  section,  where  so  many  American  bom  have 
played  fast  and  loose  with  those  laws,  and  where  in- 
fractions of  the  laws,  especially  the  liquor  laws,  have 
been  winked  at  for  gain  on  the  part  of  prominent 
county  officials  and  local  officers,  pledged  and  duty 
bound  to  enforce  those  laws  ?  We  do  well  to  remember 
when  abusing  the  foreigner  for  lawlessness  that  very 
often  they  have  learned  it  from  lawless  Americans. 

Cases  of  Liquor  Violations  Tried  in  Danville 

The  week  beginning  with  March  23rd  was  a  very 
busy  one  in  the  court  of  Judge  Lindley  at  Danville, 
Illinois,  for  it  was  here  that  hundreds  of  liquor  viola- 
tors from  Williamson  County  appeared  to  answer  for 
"the  deeds  done  in  the  flesh". 

Through  the  influence  of  S.  Glenn  Young  (who 
made  a  special  trip  to  Washington  for  the  purpose) 
supplemented  by  the  pressure  of  many  of  the  best 
citizens  in  Williamson  County,  including  all  of  its  Pro- 
testant ministers,  the  cases  were  not  permitted  to  be 
prosecuted  by  United  States  Attorney  Potter  of 
Marion,  to  whom  reference  has  previously  been  made 
in  this  volume.  A  special  prosecutor  was  appointed 
for  the  cases  in  the  person  of  Lawrence  T.  Allen.  Mr. 
Allen  did  his  work  in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner, 
except,  of  course,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  boot- 
leggers et  al.  Judge  Lindley  also  proved  his  metal 
and  ability,  administering  legal  remedies  in  large  doses 
without  fear  or  favor. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  135 

The  majority  of  the  bootleggers  pleaded  guilty, 
evidently  hoping  for  and  expecting  mitigation  of 
sentence. 

Ora  Thomas,  who  is  now  out  again  and  one  of 
Sheriff  Galligan's  deputies,  was  given  a  severe  lecture 
by  the  Judge,  in  which  he  said  that  if  Thomas  was  a 
specimen  of  the  citizens  of  Williamson  County  it  was 
no  wonder  the  troops  had  to  be  called.  He  was  also 
given  four  months  on  the  first  count,  and  also  a  heavy 
fine. 

Jail  sentences  imposed  on  others  at  this  time  ranged 
from  thirty  days  to  four  months,  but  for  some  reason 
Or  other  many  of  them  never  served  their  full  time. 
Perhaps  their  sentences  were  shortened  for  good  be- 
haviour, for  even  bootleggers  and  saloon  keepers  can 
be  fairly  good  in  jail.  They  are  always  quite  repentant 
until  they  get  out. 

We  will  never  get  very  far  toward  the  solution  of 
lawlessness  in  America,  and  never  discourage  the  illicit 
traffic  in  liquor  very  seriously  among  many  until  the 
day  comes  when  the  law  gets  teeth  in  it,  and  judicial 
penalties  are  actually  enforced.  To  fine  a  bootlegger 
is  simply  slapping  him  on  the  wrist.  Money  is  a  com- 
paratively small  consideration  with  most  of  them.  Not 
until  they  know  that  to  violate  the  liquor  laws  means 
a  long  incarceration  behind  prison  bars  as  well  as  a 
substantial  fine,  are  they  likely  to  feel  that  the  game 
isn't  worth  while. 

And  yet,  the  conditions  in  the  county  today,  as 
compared  with  the  conditions  which  obtained  here  six 
months  ago,  are  vastly  different  and  do  argue  for  a 
discouraged  condition  on  the  part  of  the  liquor  law 


136  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 


violators.  To  visit  the  Herrin  of  today  is  to  see  a 
vastly  different  Herrin  from  the  beginning  of  1924. 
It  is  not  yet  one  hundred  per  cent,  and  the  county  is 
not  yet  a  thoroughly  dry  county,  but  none,  except  those 
anxious  to  discredit  Young's  work  and  that  of  the  Klan, 
can  deny  that  it  is  easily  seventy-five  per  cent  better 
than  it  was,  proving  beyond  all  controversy  that  the 
work  of  S.  Glenn  Young  in  Williamson  County  has 
been  drastic  and  eminently  successful. 

I  presume  that  there  will  be  strong  efforts  made 
from  time  to  time  to  get  things  back  to  the  open  days 
of  the  past,  but  any  such  effort  will  simply  constitute 
a  call  for  other  raids.  The  work  will  be  kept  up  until 
the  county  is  one  of  the  very  driest  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  If  the  officials  will  co-operate  with 
the  Klan,  as  they  so  splendidly  do  up  in  Urbana,  w^here 
Sheriff  John  Gray,  who  is  not  a  Klansman,  is  doing 
such  fine  work,  the  officials  will  find  the  Klan  a  w^on- 
derful  ally.  If  they  will  not  co-operate  and  will  not 
enforce  the  laws  they  will  find  it  enforced,  legally,  but 
through  other  channels.  Williamson  County  expects 
soon  to  change  things  at  the  ballot  box,  placing  in 
office  men  who  cannot  be  bought  or  sold,  men  pledged 
to  keep  the  county  as  clean  as  it  is  within  the  power 
of  the  law  to  do.  We  have  such  men  in  the  county  and 
in  them  very  largely  lies  the  hope  of  the  future.  The 
county  that  has  suffered  so  long  from  men  who  have 
been  weak,  if  not  positively  wicked,  has,  we  believe, 
learned  its  lesson.  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  future 
will  vindicate  this  judgment. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  137 


FEBRUARY  THE  EIGHTH 

ACT  I. 

THE  KIDNAPPING 

AS  some  mountain  peaks  stand  out  more  promi- 
nently than  others  against  the  horizon  so  there 
are  certain  days  in  the  annals  of  individual  or 
community  life  which  stands  out  more  prominently  in 
the  memory  than  others.  Such  a  day,  or  rather  night, 
is  February  8,  1924,  to  many  in  the  City  of  Herrin. 
Possibly  the  only  date  standing  out  more  prominently 
in  its  history  is  that  of  June  22,  1922— ''Bloody 
Thursday". 

John  Ford,  the  present  Chief  of  Police  in  Herrin, 
an  el!icient  officer  who  cannot  be  bought,  will  long  re- 
member that  night  though  he  was  deprived  of  seeing 
or  having  any  part  in  the  activities  of  its  closing  hours, 
owing  to  the  great  solicitude  of  the  sheriff,  George  Gal- 
ligan,  for  John's  physical  safety,  and  the  fact  that  the 
same  official  kidnapped  him  and  spirited  him,  along 
with  others  who  might  interfere  vdth  the  work 
planned  for  the  evening,  out  of  Williamson  County. 

Being  a  man  upon  whose  word  people  can  rely,  the 
statement  given  to  local  papers  by  Mr.  Ford  in  regard 
to  his  experience  that  evening,  carries  conviction  as  to 
its  truth.    He  says : — 

''About  8:25  P.  M.  I  was  called  by  Tom  Thornton. 
He  said,  'Get  ready  and  come  to  town'.  I  asked  what 
the  trouble  was,  and  he  replied  that  Policeman  Albert 
Jones    said    that    there    were    two    deputies    in    Old 


138 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXX    YOUNG  139 

Squirrel  Local  with  high  powered  rifles,  and  that  there 
was  going  to  be  trouble.  I  asked  Tom  if  he  had  noti- 
fied Grain,  another  of  our  dependable  officers,  and  he 
told  me  that  he  had  not  done  so.  I  directed  him  how 
to  reach  Grain's  home,  and  asked  him  to  call  him 
while  I  dressed. 

"Dressing  very  hurriedly,  I  went  down  on  the  street 
in  front  of  my  home  and  got  into  Mr.  Garl  Neilson's 
car.  Mr.  Grain  came  along  shortly,  got  into  the  car 
with  us  and  we  drove  North  on  13th  street,  then  West 
on  Monroe  to  14th,  stopping  at  the  Boulevard  stop. 

''Grain  and  I  stepped  out  of  the  car,  and,  going 
over  to  the  sidewalk,  met  John  Garvaglia,  the  chair- 
man of  the  Herrin  Board  of  Health.  I  asked  him  if 
Old  Squirrel  Local  met  upstairs,  and  he  replied,  'I 
dunno'.  I  asked  him  who  was  meeting  up  there  and  he 
repHed,  *I  dunno'.  I  asked  him  if  there  had  been  any 
trouble  up  there,  receiving  the  same  answer,  'I  dunno'. 
I  said,  'John  we  have  been  called  here.  Go  up  and 
see  if  there  is  any  trouble'.  He  said,  'No,  you  police- 
man, you  go.' 

"We  walked  to  the  door  and  entered  the  stairway, 
to  be  covered  immediately  by  two  guards  with  sawed- 
off  pump  shot  guns.  These  guards  were  at  the  top  of 
the  stairway  and  were  Jack  Skelcher  and  Angelo 
Delaria. 

"I  said  to  the  guards,  'Boys,  put  these  guns  down. 
We  have  been  called  here',  to  which  Angelo  Delaria 
replied,  'Don't  come  up  here'. 

"Not  thinking  of  any  trouble,  we  mounted  the 
stairs,  myself  in  the  lead  and  Mr.  Grain  following. 
After  getting  some  five  or  six  steps  up,  I  heard  the 


140 LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

doors  rattle,  and  looking  back  over  my  shoulder  I  saw 
through  the  glass  John  Garvalia  locking  or  monkeying 
with  the  door.  I  then  discovered  that  we  had  been 
trapped.  We  walked  on  to  the  head  of  the  stairs,  how- 
ever, and  I  again  said,  'Boys,  put  down  those  guns'. 
Jack  Skelcher  obeyed  and  Angelo  Delaria  said  again, 
'Don't  come  up  here'. 

"I  heard  another  racket  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs, 
and  looking  down  saw  John  Garvaglia  coming  through 
the  side  doors  from  the  old  saloon  into  the  stairway. 
I  walked  up  to  Angelo  Delaria  and  took  his  gun  away 
from  him,  without  drawing  my  own  and  at  this  junc- 
ture the  hall  door  flew  open  and  men  poured  out,  four 
abreast,  with  drawn  revolvers,  sawed-off  shot  guns, 
high  powered  rifles,  swearing  and  calling  us  all  kind 
of  names,  and  at  the  same  time  ordering  us  to  'stick 
them  up  high'. 

"C.  R.  Shelton,  Ervey  Shelton,  Sylvester  Reggia, 
Hezzie  Byrnes  and  Ora  Thomas  covered  me  with  their 
shot  guns,  and  many  others  covered  Grain  with  guns. 
Ora  Thomas  disarmed  me,  and  just  then  John  Layman 
and  George  Galligan  (sheriff  and  deputy)  came  up. 
Layman  (the  deputy)  said,  'You  damn  dirty  Ku  Klux 

we  have  you  where  we  want  you',  and  at 

that  reached  over  Thomas'  shoulder  and  grabbed  me 
by  the  hair  of  the  head,  — taking  my  hat  with  the  hair, 
neither  of  which  I  have  seen  since. 

"George  Galligan  then  stepped  between  Thomas 
and  I  and  said,  'Ora,  get  these  men  back  in  the  hall. 
I  will  take  care  of  John'.  John  Layman  stepped  down 
some  two  or  three  flights  and  disarmed  Grain.  John 
Garvaglia  at  this  time  jerked  Grain  down  the  stairs, 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 141 

some  three  or  four  steps.  Layman  followed  up,  and 
C.  R.  Shelton  struck  at  Grain  with  something  and  Lay- 
man jerked  Grain  back.  Just  as  he  did  so  a  shot  rang 
out,  and  I  saw  the  fire  between  me  and  Grain.  The 
bullet  passed  through  Grain's  coat  sleeve  and  struck 
Layman  in  the  chest. 

"Layman  sank  in  a  stooped  position  and  said,  '1 
am  shot.'  G.  R.  Shelton  and  Hezzie  Byrnes  took  hold 
of  Layman  and  started  up  the  stairs,  but  turned  Lay- 
man loose,  and  he  walked  past  me  up  into  the  hall, 
returning  a  few  seconds  later  by  himself  with  both 
hands  on  his  chest  just  above  the  belt  line.  When  he 
got  opposite  me  in  the  stairway  he  stopped  and  said, 

'Boys,  here  is  the  dirty that  shot  me. 

Get  him,  get  him'.  Ora  Thomas  still  had  his  gun  on 
me,  and  stated,  'No,  boys.  Ford  did  not  shoot  Layman, 
I  have  his  guns'.  I  said,  'No,  Ora,  I  didn't  shoot  Lay- 
man and  you  know  it'. 

"The  sheriff  was  standing  back  of  Ora  Thomas, 
and  said  again,  'Boys,  get  back  in  the  hall  and  behave'. 
G.  R.  Shelton  said,  *Get  back  in  the  hall,  hell,  and  get 

us  all  killed'.    Hezzie  Byrnes  said,  'No,  by !    Get 

them  machine  guns  and  get  out  on  the  sidewalk  and 

kill  every  — '. that  comes  up'.     Shelton 's 

brother  said,  'Where  is  Mage  Anderson?  Go  tell  him 
here  is  the police'. 

"At  this  time  there  were  some  forty  or  fifty  men 
in  the  stairway,  and  mob  rule  was  in  full  sway.  They 
began  punching  us  in  the  bodies  with  all  kind  of  guns, 
and  making  all  kind  of  threats  while  they  pushed  us 
down  the  stairs  and  out  on  the  sidewalk. 


142  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

*'Layman  went  through  the  door,  about  the  first 
man,  by  himself.  Sheriff  Galligan  ordered  us  into  a 
car,  and  picked  out  Sylvester  Reggia,  Jack  Skelcher 
and  himself  to  acompany  Grain  and  I.  About  this  time 
Hezzie  Byrnes  attacked  Sim  Stephens  as  he  walked 
upon  the  sidewalk,  jerking  off  his  star  and  striking 
him  with  his  gun  over  the  head.  Then  Sim  was 
ordered  into  a  second  car,  and  a  man  called  Hezzie, 
and  two  or  three  other  men  got  in.  A  third  car  was 
also  loaded,  but  I  could  not  tell  who  or  how  many  got 
in.  Ora  Thomas,  C.  R.  Shelton  and  others  were  giving 
various  kinds  of  orders  on  the  sidewalk,  and  we  drove 
away,  our  car,  a  Hudson  coach,  leading  the  procession. 

**We  went  East  on  Monroe  to  13th  street,  and 
South  on  13th  to  the  500  block,  then  West  to  16th 
street.  Here  the  third  car  dropped  out,  and  we  drove 
North  on  16th  to  Monroe  to  the  Marion  hard  road.  It 
was  about  9 :00  p.  m.  when  we  left  the  hall,  and  10 :10 
when  we  arrived  at  the  county  jail. 

"Mr.  Galligan  entered  the  jail  parlor  with  us,  asked 
us  to  have  a  seat  and  said  that  he  was  going  up  town 
but  would  be  back  again  in  a  few  minutes.  At  10:15 
the  phone  rang,  and  the  turnkey  came  out  of  the  South 
room  through  the  parlor  and  out  into  the  hallway  and 
answered  the  phone.  He  then  came  back  into  the  par- 
lor and  said  that  Ora  Thomas  had  just  called  up  from 
the  Herrin  hospital  and  said  that  C.  S.  Gagle  was  dead 
and  that  hell  was  popping  in  Herrin. 

"I  remarked,  'That's  too  bad",  he  replied,  'What  in 
the  do  you  mean'.  I  said,  'It's  too  bad  it  hap- 
pened that  way',  and  again  he  asked,  with  an  oath, 
what  I  meant.    Again  I  said,  'It's  too  bad  it  happened 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  143 

that  way',  whereupon  he  quickly  asked,  'Are  you  fel- 
lows some  of  George's  deputies?'  Grain  said,  'No,  we 
are  prisoners'.  'Oh',  he  replied,  'You  are  the  Herrin 
policemen'. 

"At  this  time  a  man  called  Hezzie  came  through 
the  South  room  from  locking  Stephens  up  in  jail,  and 
George  came  in  from  the  front  way  and  they  met  at 
the  parlor  door.     Hezzie  asked   George,   'Where   are 

those  D d  policemen?'     George  replied,  'They  are 

in  here,  we  are  going  to  take  them  away.'  Hezzie  re- 
plied, 'You  are  a  h of  a  sheriff,  why  don't  you  lock 

them  up  ?'  He  started  with  us  for  the  cells,  but  Galli- 
gan  said,  'No,  these  boys  are  all  right,  we  are  going 
to  take  them  away'.    Hezzie  then  said  to  me,  'You  are 

the  dirty that  shot  Layman'.    I  said,  'No,  I 

did  not  do  such  a  thing',  whereupon  he  drew  his  guns 
and  said,  'You  are  a  d d  liar'. 

"The  sheriff  rushed  us  out  into  the  car,  drove  up 
around  the  square,  turned  South  from  there  and  stop- 
ped for  five  or  ten  minutes  at  some  buildings  just  off 
the  South-East  corner  of  the  square.  He  then  drove 
us  West  to  the  railroad  and  then  on  to  Carbondale, 
where  we  stopped  a  few  minutes  for  gas  and  went  on 
to  Murphysboro,  arriving  there  at  12:00  o'clock  p.  m. 
We  were  placed  in  jail.  Sim  Stephens  was  released  at 
4:00  a.  m.,  then  we  were  ordered  by  the  deputies  to 
get  ready  to  leave. 

"We  came  down  to  the  office  and  I  asked  the  depu- 
ties why  and  where  they  were  moving  us  to.  They 
would  not  tell  us,  and  I  asked  them  why  they  were 
holding  us.  They  said,  'For  safe  keeping'.  Deputy 
Flanagan  said  the  business  men  had  held  a  meeting  and 


144  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

asked  that  we  be  moved.  I  asked  if  they  were  afraid 
of  our  friends,  and  he  replied,  'both  your  friends  and 
your  enemies'.  Grain  asked  what  the  charges  against 
us  were,  to  which  question  no  reply  w^as  given.  We 
left  the  beautiful  City  of  Murphysboro  at  10:50  a.  m., 
February  9th,  for  the  City  of  Belleville,  the  home  of 
the  Dutch  and  Sauer  Kraut. 

''Arriving  there  at  4:50  p.  m.,  the  big  Dutchman 
got  our  pedigree,  and  w^e  were  thrown  into  a  cell,  or 
better  still,  a  bunch  of  cells,  with  bootleggers,  high- 
waymen, murderers  and  other  respectable  citizens  who 
could  not  get  along  with  the  Dutch  and  had  been 
thrown  into  jail  for  safe  keeping  along  with  the 
Herrin  policemen.  However,  our  friends  being  hot  on 
our  trail,  made  us  appreciate  them  more  than  words 
can  tell,  and  we  returned  to  you  with  a  better  know- 
ledge of  how  to  serve  our  people. 

"When  Father  Brady  Jenkins  and  J.  H.  Ford's 
smiling  faces  greeted  us  in  the  big  Dutchman's  office 
at  Belleville  about  7:40  a.  m.  Sunday  morning,  it  was 
the  brightest  Sunday  in  all  our  lives  put  together,  and 
to  cap  the  climax  Crain  went  over  to  Belleville  to  get 
married. 

"We  committed  no  crime;  we  had  nothing  to  fear, 
and  we  only  hope,  regardless  of  cost,  that  we  all  may 
have  learned  a  valuable  lesson.  For  no  great  cause 
has  ever  been  won  without  sacrifice. 

"In  closing  I  wish  to  state  frankly,  honestly,  truth- 
fully, that  I  never  drew  a  gun  Friday  night  in  the 
Rome  Club  Hall  stairway,  for,  as  I  saw  the  issue,  it 
was  useless.  It  was  an  impossibility  for  me  to  have 
shot  Layman  or  anyone  else,  and  from  the  depths  of 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 145 

our  hearts,  if  we  have  such  a  thing  left  in  our  bodies, 
we  are  thankful  for  the  kindness  and  brotherly  love 
shown  us  and  our  loved  ones  in  our  brief  tour  of  in- 
spection of  the  various  county  jails  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois. There  is  no  doubt  in  our  minds  but  what  the 
great  God  who  rules  heaven  and  earth  had  a  hand  in 
protecting  us,  for  circumstances  speak  for  themselves 
and  prove  beyond  doubt  that  the  meeting  we  butted 
into  last  Friday  night  was  against  us.'* 

J.  W.  Ford,  Chief  of  Police 

H.  M.  Grain. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  Fourteenth 
day  of  February,  1924. 

W.  F.  Keaster, 

Justice  of  the  Peace. 


146  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


FEBRUARY  THE  EIGHTH 

ACT  n. 

THE  MURDER  OF  CAESAR  CAGLE 

CRUEL,  cold,  deliberate  and  dastardly.  Words 
fail  to  describe  the  shooting  of  Constable  Caesar 
Cagle  on  the  evening  of  February  8,  1924. 
There  is  no  mitigating  feature,  nothing  whereby  to  re- 
lieve it  of  any  measure  of  its  awfulness.  If  there  is 
no  hell  there  ought  to  be,  for  if  the  perpetrators  of 
such  foul  crimes  escape  punishment  at  the  hands  of 
the  lav7  here,  as  they  so  frequently  do,  there  ought  to 
be  a  place  of  judgment  and  punishment  in  a  v^orld  to 
come.    I  believe  there  is. 

The  premeditated  murder  of  Caesar  Cagle  followed 
the  significant  events  recorded  in  the  last  chapter.  I 
say  "premeditated",  for  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  not  only  was  his  murder  planned,  but  that  others 
also  were  booked  for  ''knocking  off".  Of  this  Glenn 
Young  himself  bears  witness  when  he  says: — "I  have 
been  condemned  to  death.  I  am  not  guessing  at  it.  I 
have  the  proof.  The  night  that  Caesar  Cagle  was  mur- 
dered, four  more  of  us  were  slated  to  travel  the  death 
road — myself,  Sam  Stearns,  chairman  of  the  county 
board.  Police  Magistrate  Abe  Hicks,  and  State  Sena- 
tor William  Bandy. 

"Cagle's  murder  was  a  well  premeditated  crime,  but 
the  plans  went  awry  as  regarded  the  rest  of  us.  I  was 
at  Marion  when  Cagle  was  shot.  I  was  immediately 
notified  by  phone  and  a  bunch  of  us  started  for 
Herrin. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 147 

"The  first  two  automobiles  were  an  Oldsmdbile  and 
a  Buick  sedan,  the  latter  having  been  driven  by  myself 
all  over  the  country  in  the  raids.  I  was  last  in  a  new 
Rickenbacker  sedan  which  the  friends  of  law  enforce- 
ment had  given  me  to  replace  the  old  car. 

**As  we  were  two  blocks  from  the  county  jail  in 
Marion,  we  ran  into  an  ambush,  and  the  first  two  cars 
were  riddled  with  bullets,  several  occupants  being 
shot,  but  no  one  killed. 

"Those  bullets  were  meant  for  me,  and  it  is  only 
a  miracle  that  I  was  not  killed.  Upon  stopping  our 
cars  and  running  back  to  the  comer,  we  saw  the 
would-be  assassins  running  into  the  county  jail." 

Certainly  it  is  clear  that  more  than  Caesar  Cagle 
were  listed  for  death  on  that  awful  night  of  February 
8th.  Where  those  plans  were  laid  and  fostered  we 
can  only  suspect.  Why  they  failed  we  do  not  know, 
unless  it  be  that  a  kind,  overruling  Providence 
thwarted  the  purposes  of  wicked  men  that  the  cause 
of  righteousness  might  prevail  in  Williamson  County. 

Alas  that  the  murderous  plans  succeeded  as  well 
as  they  did,  and  that  today  a  devoted  wife,  young  son 
and  aged  father  and  mother  mourn  the  loss  of  one  who 
did  his  duties  faithfully  and  paid  the  price  with  his 
life  upon  the  streets  of  the  city  to  the  protection  of 
whose  citizenship  he  had  pledged  himself. 

Before  me  lies  a  stenographic  report  of  the  Coro- 
ner's inquest,  held  in  the  City  Hall  of  Herrin  on  Feb- 
ruary ll-13th,  1924.  The  jury  consisted  of  John 
Herrin,  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  as  fore- 
man; A.  T.  Pace,  former  Mayor  of  Herrin,  as  clerk; 
0.  W.  Lyerla,  cashier  of,  the  Herrin   State  Savings 


148  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

Bank;  Joe  P.  Benson,  cashier  of  the  City  National 
Bank;  George  Kays,  a  carpenter  and  miner,  and  Shell 
Hunsaker,  a  miner.    The  Coroner  was  W.  M.  McCown. 

Over  sixty  witnesses  were  summoned  before  this 
jury  and  fifty-four  of  them  were  called  upon  to  give 
testimony.  It  is  up  to  the  courts  to  decide  upon  the 
guilt  or  innocence  of  those  involved  in  this  terrible 
affair.  In  presenting  the  evidence  given  before  the 
Coroner's  jury  I  am  not  passing  judgment  upon  the 
case,  but  simply  recording  history.  That  opinions  will 
be  formed  as  a  result  of  this  history  is  inevitable,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  decision  of  the  courts  convic- 
tions formed  through  the  testimony  of  eye  witnesses 
will  abide  for  all  time. 

George  Parsons  told  the  jury  that  he  was  in  the 
miner's  local  about  eight  o'clock  on  the  evening  of 
February  8th,  attending  one  of  the  regular  meetings  of 
that  organization;  and  that  as  he  and  some  of  his 
friends  were  leaving  the  hall  a  group  of  men,  carrying 
arms,  came  in.  Among  them  was  Ora  Thomas. 
Parsons  said  that  he  did  not  look  back  to  see  what 
happened,  but  that  Mr.  Jones,  one  of  the  officers,  went 
and  asked  the  six  or  eight  armed  men  what  their  busi- 
ness was  and  ''what  the  trouble  was  that  they  were 
coming  in  with  guns"?  They  didn't  answer  at  first 
but  finally  admitted  that  Sheriff  George  Galligan  had 
sent  them  and  that  they  were  "going  to  have  a  little 
party". 

Perhaps  no  testimony  presented  to  the  jury  has  a 
stronger  bearing  upon  the  case  than  that  of  Jack  Rowe, 
an  intelligent,  dependable  young  man  of  twenty-three 
whose  witness  was  as  follows: — 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  149 

**I  had  just  come  from  the  basketball  game  and  was 
on  my  way  to  town  in  company  with' my  cousin,  and  as 
I  was  passing  14th  and  Cherry  streets  I  saw  a  crowd 
of  about  25  or  35  men,  all  of  whom  carried  pistols,  come 
down  the  street.  They  were  shouting  to  the  people  to 
keep  off  the  streets. 

"When  the  men  got  along  by  the  Jefferson  Bar  I 
heard  one  of  them  say,  'Here  he  is.'  I  looked  over  to- 
ward the  sidewalk  and  saw  Caesar  Cagle  walking 
north  toward  the  mob  of  men.  Cagle  stopped  and  the 
mob  rushed  over  to  the  sidewalk.  One  man,  a  heavy 
set,  well  built  fellow,  hit  Cagle  over  the  head  with  a 
gun,  and  Cagle  fell  to  the  walk.  Cagle  had  heard  the 
shout,  'Here  he  is'  and  drawn  his  revolver  from  a 
holster  under  his  left  arm.  He  had  just  drawn  when 
he  was  knocked  down  by  the  big  fellow.  Three  men 
rushed  to  him  and  jerked  the  gun  from  his  right  hand. 

'1  heard  three  shots  fired." 

"Did  you  recognize  any  of  the  men  ?" 

"There  were  three  men." 

"What  happened  to  the  men  after  the  shooting?" 

"They  just  scrambled  away." 

"Were  the  shots  fired  by  one  man?" 

"Two  of  the  shots  were  fired  by  two  men." 

"Do  you  know  the  men  that  fired?" 

"Yes,  one  shot  was  fired  by  one  man  and  one  by 
another." 

"Would  you  care  to  tell  us  who  they  were?" 

"That's  what  I  was  getting  at.  The  one  shot  was 
fired  by  Ora  Thomas,  the  other  by  Shelton." 

"What  is  his  given  name?" 


150  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

"I  couldn't  tell  you  his  given  name.  There  are  two 
of  the  boys." 

'*Do  you  know  who  fired  the  other  shot?" 

**Some  men  got  in  between  me  and  Cagle,  and  al- 
though I  heard  the  other  shot  I  did  not  see  the  flash." 

"How  was  the  man  dressed,  the  one  that  fired  the 
shot?"" 

"The  Shelton  that  fired  was  a  big  built  man,  about 
175  or  180  pounds,  a  little  larger  than  Cagle  and  kind 
of  sleepy  eyed  and  full  in  the  face,  a  heavy  built 
fellow." 

"Cagle  fell  to  the  walk  and  the  crowd  seemed  to 
disperse.  I  rushed  to  his  side.  I  had  not  recognized 
him  before,  but  when  I  reached  his  body  I  pulled  back 
his  cap  and  saw  it  was  Caesar  Cagle.  I  called  for 
help,  and  as  I  lifted  him  up  by  the  shoulders  two  other 
men  each  took  one  of  his  legs  and  w^e  carried  him  to 
the  hospital  three  blocks  away.  As  we  were  carrying 
him  up  the  steps  I  felt  another  gun  carried  in  a  scab- 
bard on  his  right  hip.  I  took  this  out  and  some  man 
came  up  and  took  it  away  from  me.  Caesar  gave  one 
groan,  the  only  sound  he  made,  and  we  just  carried 
him  on  in  to  the  operating  table." 

It  was  a  pathetic  moment  when  Franklin  Cagle, 
the  little  eleven  year  old  son  of  the  slain  man,  took 
the  stand  to  tell  the  jury  what  he  knew  about  the 
murder  of  his  father.  He  told  of  coming  from  the 
movie,  and  that  as  he  went  down  the  street  toward 
the  Rome  Club  he  saw  a  lot  of  men  congregated. 
George  Kenner,  a  friend  of  the  family,  met  him  and 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 151 

told  him  to  go  get  his  father  as  there  was  a  big  fight 
on.  The  lad  telephoned  his  father  but  failing  thus  to 
locate  him  went  to  the  Masonic  Temple,  where  his 
father  and  mother  were  attending  a  social,  and  deliv- 
ered the  message — the  message  that  was  to  result  in 
his  father's  destruction. 

Harry  Hanks,  a  mechanic  of  Herrin  gave  important 
testimony.  He  said: — '1  left  the  high  school  about 
8:30,  and  as  I  got  to  14th  street  I  saw  a  bunch  of 
men,  three  or  four  of  whom  I  recognized  immediately. 
Their  leader  was  Shelton.  There  were  two  Shelton 
brothers.  One  was  a  tall  slim  fellow,  and  the  other 
fellow  a  large  man.  These  two  brothers  were  in 
front.  I  saw  a  fellow  coming  down  from  the  rear  in 
the  direction  of  the  hospital.  He  hesitated  a  second 
or  two  on  the  Illinois  Central  platform,  and  seemed 
to  stop  in  the  alley  behind  the  hotel,  but  it  came  out 
afterward  that  he  stepped  in  the  doorway  of  that  bar 
there.  Just  as  we  got  to  the  corner  of  the  Jefferson 
we  stopped.  Someone  said,  'There  he  is'.  Shelton, 
the  tall  slim  one,  made  a  dive  for  him  first  and  hit  him 
over  the  head.  Just  as  he  fell  shots  were  fired,  a 
flash  from  one  gun  and  three  flashes  from  another; 
and  the  two  that  I  saw  shoot  were  the  Shelton 
brothers.  I  think  they  were  the  same  kind  of  guns 
because  there  wasn't  any  difference  between  the  noise 
of  the  guns.  I  saw  Vurney  (Shelton)  and  his  two 
brothers  and  a  fellow  they  call  Harris  get  in  a  Ford 
coupe,  and  they  all  had  guns  in  their  hands.  I  don't 
know  Harris'  given  name,  and  they  drove  away." 

Conflicting  testimony  was  offered  in  regard  to  Ora 
Thomas.    Dr.  Black  of  the  hospital  which  he  permitted 


152  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

to  be  used  as  a  Flaming  Circle  barracks,  stated  that 
Thomas  was  in  the  X-Ray  room  when  Cagle  was 
brought  in,  whereas  Stanley  Johnson  testified,  *'No, 
Ora  Thomas  was  not  in  the  X-Ray  room  at  that  time". 

''Did  you  notice  where  he  was?" 

''Well,  after  a  while,  when  he  was  in  the  operating 
room,  he  told  John  Layman  that  he'd  have  to  go  and 
he  went  out  of  the  operating  room.  I  don't  know 
where  he  went.  While  he  was  gone,  Johnson  told  me 
at  a  later  date,  he  (Johnson),  Black  and  a  visitor  car- 
ried Layman  in  and  placed  him  on  an  X-Ray  table  and 
took  a  picture  of  him.  This  was  no  good  and  a  second 
one  was  taken.  While  they  were  working  on  the 
second  one  Ora  Thomas  came  back.  Then  a  bunch 
came  in  the  door  and  said  they  had  brought  Cagle  in 
shot." 

Well,  however  that  may  be,  the  Coroner's  jury  re- 
turned the  following  verdict : — "We,  the  jury,  find  that 
Caesar  Cagle  came  to  his  death  on  February  8th, 
1924,  near  the  hour  of  9 :30  p.  m.,  by  gun  shot  wounds 
at  the  hands  of  one  Shelton  described  as  tall  and  slim ; 
and  one  Shelton  described  as  heavy-set  and  sleepy- 
eyed. 

"After  being  in  session  four  days  and  examining 
fifty-four  witnesses,  we  found  one  eye-witness  who 
testified  that  Ora  Thomas  fired  upon  Caesar  Cagle  with 
a  revolver.  A  number  of  witnesses  testified  that  Ora 
Thomas  was  at  the  hospital  at  the  time  the  shooting 
occurred. 

"One  eye-witness  testified  that  Angelo  Delaria  ran 
from  the  scene  of  the  shooting  toward  the  hospital 


RAIDER   S,    GLENN    YOUNG  153 

with  two  revolvers  in  his  hands,  which  testimony  was 
not  contradicted." 

Signed, 

John    Herrin,    Foreman 

A.  T.  Pace,  Clerk 

O.  W.  Lyerla 

Joe  P.  Benson 

Geo.  Kays 

Shell  Hunsaker 

Following  the  decision  of  the  coroner's  jury,  prac- 
tically every  man  who  had  been  arrested  in  connec- 
tion with  the  murder  was  released.  This  included 
Sheriff  George  Galligan,  who  had  been  arrested  at 
Carbondale  on  a  warrant  served  by  S.  Glenn  Young, 
charging  him  with  complicity  in  the  death  of  Caesar 
Cagle.  It  also  released  Mayor  Anderson,  Hezzie 
Byrnes,  L.  C.  Johnson,  Hugh  Willis,  Pete  Smith,  W.  A. 
Thomas,  W.  Z.  Trout,  John  Garvaglia,  John  Davis, 
Nicholas  Dudy,  Veto  Sanfaletto,  C.  E.  Haselton,  Carl 
and  William  A.  Ruff,  Louis  Grazzatt,  Bill  Dean  and 
Sylvester  Reggio. 

Mai'tyred  KJansman  Honored  in  Death 

Shortly  after  noon  on  Sunday,  February  10th, 
autos,  each  bearing  the  American  flag,  began  to  form 
in  line  and  at  2 : 00  o'clock  a  procession  of  two  hundred 
cars  started  towards  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Her- 
rin, where  the  services  were  held.  Williamson  Lodge, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  assisted  by  Rev.  I.  E.  Lee,  pastor 
of  the  church,  and  Rev.  P.  R.  Glotfelty,  pastor  of  the 
Herrin  Methodist  church,  had  charge  of  the  sei'vices. 
Both  of  these  ministers  have  been  very  hearty  in  sup- 


154  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

porting  the  work  of  the  Klan  and  are  commonly  sup- 
posed to  be  identified  with  the  great  American  organi- 
zation. 

The  spacious  auditorium  of  the  church  was 
crowded  with  the  immediate  friends  of  the  murdered 
officer.  Over  a  thousand  people  thronged  the  church 
on  the  outside,  saw  the  casket  carried  in,  and  waited 
for  over  an  hour  until  the  body  was  borne  out  again 
and  the  procession  of  several  hundred  automobiles 
filed  away  toward  Oakwood  cemetery  at  Carterville, 
six  miles  away,  where  the  last  solemn  rites  took  place. 

Immediately  before  the  opening  of  the  service  in 
the  church,  a  huge  blanket  of  white  flowers,  bearing 
the  central  inscription  **K.  K.  K."  in  green  was  de- 
posited on  the  casket,  and  a  fiery  cross  of  red  roses 
placed  at  its  side.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  impressive 
service  the  casket  was  wheeled  to  the  front  of  the 
church  and  more  than  two  thousand  people  filed  by 
the  bier,  paying  their  tribute  of  respect  for  the  valor 
of  the  deceased  officer. 

Buried  With  Klan  Robe  and  Visor 

When  the  casket  containing  the  body  of  Caesar 
Cagle  was  lowered  beneath  the  sod,  his  Klan  robe  and 
hood  were  placed  on  top  and  buried  with  him. 

It  had  been  rumored  that  Klansmen  would  attend 
the  funeral  in  full  regalia,  but  at  the  last  minute  the 
Grand  Dragon  of  the  Realm  of  Illinois  issued  instruc- 
tions that  under  the  circumstances  it  would  be  better 
to  dispense  with  any  ceremony  that  might  cause 
further  trouble,  a  wise  decision  in  which  the  Klans- 
men of  Williamson  County  readily  concurred,  for  the 
supreme  desire  of  the  organization  has  been  to  avoid 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 155 

trouble  wherever  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  though  in  this 
they  are  a  unit,  even  though  it  be  a  fight  to  a  finish, 
namely,  that  Williamson  County  will  be  cleaned  up  if 
it  takes  two  years,  five  years  or  even  ten  years  in 
which  to  do  it. 

Caesar  Cagle  is  another  name  added  to  the  long 
list  of  those  who  have  been  brutally  murdered  by  the 
enemies  of  law  in  our  American  life.  We  believe  that 
the  inspiration  of  their  sacrifice  is  not  lost.  Today, 
little  Franklin  Cagle,  son  of  the  slain  Klansman  and 
possibly  the  youngest  member  of  the  Klan  in  the 
United  States,  has  already  avowed  his  purpose  to 
grow  up  and  take  his  father's  place  in  the  enforcement 
of  our  American  laws. 

But  let  us  not  forget.  Caesar  Cagle  was  murdered, 
and  the  perpetrators  of  the  crime  are  still  free  and 
unpunished.  We  seek  not  vengeance  but  justice.  A 
good  wife,  a  loyal  son,  a  fond  mother  and  a  father, 
T.  E.  Cagle,  who  has  served  the  county  honorably  and 
well  as  Constable,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  office 
he  now  holds  in  Carterville,  awaits  the  merited  punish- 
ment of  those  who  planned  and  carried  out  the  cruel, 
brutal  murder  of  their  loved  one.  Will  justice  be 
meted  out?  The  ineffectiveness  of  our  criminal  courts 
does  not  furnish  us  with  much  ground  for  hope. 

Sound  the  Depths  of  Infamy 

That  the  infamy  of  men  does  not  end  at  the  grave 
of  their  victims  was  illustrated  in  the  Carterville 
cemetery  a  few  weeks  after  the  burial  of  the  Klan 
Officer,  Constable  Cagle. 

A  beautiful  and  costly  stone  had  been  placed  by  the 
family  over  the  grave  of  their  slaughtered  and  beloved 


156 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

dead.  Perhaps  because  their  wicked  hearts  were  em- 
bittered by  the  county  wide  respect  shown  to  their 
enemy  in  death,  his  foes  vomited  forth  their  hatred  by 
causing  crude  oil  to  be  poured  over  the  choice  brown 
granite  stone  erected  over  his  grave  and  bearing  the 
words,  "The  Rock  of  Ages".  The  oil  was  rubbed  on 
the  face  of  the  monument  and  upon  the  headstone.  It 
was  also  poured  upon  all  the  coping  and  cornerstones 
that  surround  the  lot. 

Those  upon  whom  suspicion  has  inevitably  been 
cast,  have  made  many  efforts  since  then  to  discredit 
the  story,  and  have  even  broadcasted  the  news  that 
the  monument  was  never  defaced.  The  author  of  this 
volume  saw  the  defaced  monument  shortly  after  the 
crime  was  committed,  however,  and  vouches  for  the 
truthfulness  of  the  story.  The  spots  of  the  offending 
oil  having  been  removed  as  well  as  possible,  but  the 
stains  remain  distinctly  visible. 

The  Cagle  monument  stands  at  the  extreme  south- 
west corner  of  the  cemetery.  Why  would  that  monu- 
ment, the  farthest  removed  from  the  entrance  to  the 
burying  place,  be  selected  for  the  baptism  of  oil? 
Everything  points  to  deliberate  and  malign  intent. 

As  the  editor  of  the  Semi-Weekly  Herald  of  Herrin 
well  remarks,  ''When  men  are  murdered  on  the 
streets  and  then  molested  in  the  Silent  City  of  the 
Dead  because  they  stand  for  law  enforcement,  where 
it  is  enforced  by  regularly  constituted  officers  of  the 
law,  it  is  then  time  for  every  American  citizen  to 
awake  and  say  emphatically  that  such  criminals  shall 
be  hanged  or  sent  to  prison  for  life". 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  157 


^ 


FEBRUARY  THE  EIGHTH 

ACT  HI. 

THE  HERRIN  HOSPITAL  BARRACKS 

HE  closing  act  and  scene  of  the  famous  February 
I  the  Eighth  has  been  exploited  and  used  as  prop- 
-*"  aganda  against  the  Klan  and  S.  Glenn  Young 
more  than  any  other  act  or  scene  in  the  great  drama 
of  the  Dry  Raids  in  Williamson  County.  Much  cen- 
sure has  been  heaped  upon  the  heads  of  the  Ku  Klux 
Klan  because  some  shots  were  fired  into  the  Herrin 
Hospital.  The  public  having  received,  through  the 
Associated  Press,  a  distorted  idea  of  the  whole  affair 
is  hardly  to  blame  for  the  feelings  engendered.  That 
a  few  shots  were  fired  into  the  hospital  none  will  deny, 
but  I  am  satisfied  that  when  any  fair  minded  man  or 
woman  knows  the  character  of  the  hospital  and  the 
severe  provocation  given  by  the  gunmen  within  it  that 
night,  they  will  see  the  matter  in  a  different  light,  and 
say  that,  ''Under  the  circumstances  we  would  have 
been  strongly  tempted  to  do  the  same  thing  ourselves". 

That  the  Herrin  hospital  was  a  veritable  barracks 
of  the  notorious  Knights  of  the  Flaming  Circle  on  the 
night  of  February  8th,  there  is  abundant  and  substan- 
tial evidence.  That  numerous  guns,  including  at  least 
one  machine  gun,  were  smuggled  into  the  building  be- 
fore the  events  of  that  night  is  clear  from  the  fact 
that  they  were  used,  and  that  reputable  army  officers 
have  testified  that  they  found  them  there  upon  their 
arrival  upon  the  scene. 


158  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

A  nurse,  no  longer  in  the  employ  of  the  hospital, 
who  was  on  service  in  the  institution  prior  to  and  on 
the  night  of  the  trouble,  has  told  me  of  mysterious 
boxes  which  were  carried  into  the  basement  and 
secreted  in  lockers  shortly  before  the  fatal  evening. 
These  boxes  were  long,  thick  and  heavy,  and  may  have 
contained  the  guns,  intended  for  use  when  the  hour  of 
opportunity  struck.  Not  only  were  there  plenty  of 
guns.  But  trustworthy  witnesses,  who  knew  the  life 
of  the  hospital  from  within,  have  declared  that  there 
was  always  plenty  of  booze  about  the  house  of  healing. 

Perhaps  poor  little  Dr.  Black,  head  of  the  some- 
what questionable  institution,  was  moved  with  fear 
when  he  allowed  his  hospital  to  be  used  by  that  organi- 
zation of  men  which  is  composed  of  that  element  who 
want  the  saloon  and  every  other  institution  of  kindred 
character  to  operate  in  Williamson  County.  Indeed 
the  author  has  it  from  the  lips  of  one  of  the  nurses 
that  on  one  occasion  Dr.  Black  said  to  her  in  effect 
that  she  had  better  stay  with  the  Flaming  Circle;  ''I 
would  rather  have  one  hundred  Ku  Kluxers  after  me 
than  one  Flaming  Circle,  for  they'll  get  you  sure,  by 
G ". 

And  who  were  some  of  the  armed  guests  of  the 
hospital  on  that  memorable  night?  There  was  Ora 
Thomas,  alleged  by  an  eye  witness  to  have  fired  one  of 
the  shots  that  killed  Caesar  Cagle.  There  was  Alvin 
Thomas,  his  brother,  who  guarded  Carterville  by  day 
and  was  knocked  down  while  resisting  officers  who 
were  raiding  a  joint  on  the  Marion  road  at  night. 
Hugh  Willis,  whose  name  appeared  frequently  in  con- 
nection with  the  Lester  Mine  massacre,  was  also  pres- 
ent.    Hezzie   Byrnes,   whom   John   Ford   saw   strike 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 159 

Policeman  Sim  Stephens  over  the  head  with  his  gun 
early  that  evening,  was  likewise  a  member  of  the  hos- 
pital company.  And  what  shall  I  say  more?  What 
need  I  say  more?  It  is  superfluous  to  mention  the 
names  of  Rodie  Trout,  Bill  Ruff,  Carl  Ruff,  Leo  Ladd, 
King  Johnston,  John  Murray,  and  others  not  forgetting 
the  honorable  Mayor  of  Herrin,  Mage  Anderson,  who 
had  to  be  there,  of  course,  in  the  interest  of  the  city 
and  its  decent  citizenship.  Rather  strange  company 
for  the  chief  magistrate  of  a  city  to  be  in,  however, 
some  have  remarked. 

S.  Glenn  Young's  story  of  the  affair,  as  given  in  a 
statement  to  the  Post  Dispatch  of  Marion,  is  as 
follows : — 

"Shortly  after  my  arrival  in  Herrin  last  night,  a 
Deputy  Sheriff,  some  deputized  citizens  and  myself 
went  to  the  Herrin  Hospital  armed  with  warrants  for 
eight  men  charged  with  the  murder  of  Caesar  Cagle. 
We  had  reason  to  believe  they  were  in  the  hospital, 
and  knocked  at  the  front  door.  We  were  asked  what 
we  wanted,  and  told  those  inside  that  we  were  officers 
of  the  law.  To  this  a  volley  of  shots  from  inside  the 
door  was  the  answer.  There  were  several  volleys  of 
shots,  and  to  me  it  was  indeed  a  mystery  why  none  of 
our  party  were  injured.  We  backed  away  a  short  dis- 
tance and  fire  was  opened  upon  us  again  from  up- 
stair windows.  We  fired  some  shots  in  return,  but 
because  of  the  fear  that  we  might  injure  some  of  the 
patients  at  the  hospital  we  refrained  from  answering 
any  further  shots  and  proceeded  to  place  a  guard 
around  the  place,  and  this  guard  we  maintained  until 
the  arrival  of  the  troops  about  4:00  a.  m. 


160  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


"We  issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Sheriff 
George  Galligan  and  sent  men  to  Murphysboro  to 
serve  the  warrant,  but  Galligan  had  left  Murphysboro. 
We  communicated  with  the  police  in  Carbondale,  and 
he  was  arrested  and  put  in  jail  there  this  morning. 

*'We  have  more  than  fifty  witnesses  who  will 
testify  that  Galligan  was  in  the  party  that  shot  Cagle, 
who  was  murdered  in  cold  blood.  W"e  have  scores  of 
witnesses  who  will  testify  that  Galligan  said,  'If  they 
are  looking  for  trouble  they  will  get  it  before  morning'c 

''Witnesses  will  also  testify  that  John  Layman  is 
another  who  fired.  He  is  now  in  the  hospital  at  the 
point  of  death  as  the  result  of  a  bullet  fired  accident- 
ally by  a  member  of  his  own  gang.  We  are  here  to 
cooperate  with  the  troops  in  every  way  to  preserve 
quiet." 

Inasmuch  as  there  are  plenty  of  people  living  near 
the  hospital  who  will  testify  that  the  first  flashes  seen 
came  from  the  interior  of  the  hospital,  and  that  those 
who  were  without  only  fired  when  they  were  made  the 
targets  of  those  within,  firing  from  the  upper  win- 
dows, it  would  seem  to  any  fair  minded  person  that 
to  shoot  in  self-defense,  even  into  a  hospital  manned 
by  gunmen,  has  a  reasonable  measure  of  excuse.  The 
cowardice  of  the  culprits  who  hid  behind  the  sick  (for 
that  is  virtually  what  they  did)  and  fired  upon  those 
legally  deputized  to  arrest  them,  has  no  excuse  what- 
soever. Every  act  of  the  lawless  element  in  William- 
son County,  including  the  foul  shooting  out  of  the  eyes 
of  Mrs.  S.  Glenn  Young,  has  been  a  cowardly  act. 

Troops  Again  Called  To  Herrin 

The  night  which  began  with  the  meeting  of  the 
lawless  Knights  of  the  Flaming  Circle,  attended  by  the 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 161 

Sheriff,  George  Galligan,  and  his  chief  deputy  John 
Layman ;  the  night  that  saw  the  kidnapping,  on  the  part 
of  the  Sheriff  et  al,  of  the  two  Herrin  police  officers, 
and  the  brutal  murder  of  a  third;  the  night  that  saw 
Herrin  Hospital  used  as  a  fortress,  from  which  many 
shots  were  fired  with  intent  to  kill,  ended  in  the  send- 
ing of  state  troops  to  the  scene  of  the  trouble. 

February  9th,  saw  five  Companies  of  Illinois  Na- 
tional Guardsmen  patrolling  the  streets  of  Herrin. 
Why  were  they  there  ? 

They  were  there  because  a  weak  sheriff,  prior  to 
and  subsequent  to  his  election,  had  become  so  obKgated 
to  the  lawless  element  in  Williamson  County,  so  tied  up 
by  promises,  that  he  could  scarcely  call  his  soul  his 
own. 

They  were  there  because  George  Galligan,  Sheriff 
of  Williamson  County,  was  the  pawn  of  cheap  poli- 
ticians and  the  criminal  class  who  wanted  to  keep  the 
county  wet  and  dirty. 

They  were  there  because  the  District  Attorney, 
W.  0.  Potter,  was  the  friend  of  the  bootlegger  and 
evil  doer  throughout  the  county,  because  of  which 
politic  friendship  he  had  utterly  failed  to  perform  his 
duty  toward  law  violators. 

The  troops  were  there  because  in  a  word,  the  gov- 
ernment of  Williamson  County  was  as  rotten  and  in- 
efficient as  government  could  possibly  be,  the  laughing 
stock  of  the  lawless  and  the  lament  of  every  decent, 
law  abiding  citizen  who  had  the  interest  of  the  county, 
and  its  reputation  at  heart. 

They  were  there  because  of  the  determined  effort 
of  the  lawless  element  and  certain  of  the  officials  to 


162  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

discredit  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  the  very  much  needed 
clean-up  so  rigorously  and  efficiently  instituted  by  S. 
Glenn  Young  and  the  Klan.  They  succeeded  well  in 
bringing  things  to  such  a  pass  that  troops  did  indeed 
appear  to  be  needed.  If  the  officers  who  were  respon- 
sible for  their  coming  had  done  their  duty,  even  at 
the  eleventh  hour,  and  placed  behind  prison  bars  the 
thugs  and  bootleggers  responsible  for  so  much  of  the 
outlawry,  instead  of  aiding  them  as  they  did,  troops 
would  have  been  entirely  unnecessary,  and  the  county 
would  have  been  saved  much  expense  to  say  nothing 
of  the  nation  v/ide  shame  which  came  upon  it  through 
an  unfriendly  press. 

S.  Glenn  Young  and  the  Klan  gave  clear  evidence, 
by  immediate  cooperation  with  the  troops,  that  the 
thing  they  were  after  was  not  the  defeat  of  any  fac- 
tion, but  the  enforcement  of  existing  laws  and  the 
establishment  of  a  decent  social  order. 

How  about  the  sheriff  and  the  county  officers?  Did 
they  show  a  similar  spirit?  Did  they  seek  to  cooperate 
with  the  military  authorities?  On  Sunday,  March  2nd, 
the  head  of  the  military  forces  in  Herrin,  Major  Gen- 
eral Foreman,  called  a  conference  of  the  various 
forces  of  the  county  organized  for  law  enforcement, 
among  them  the  county  officers,  and  a  so-called  "citi- 
zens' committee,"  made  up  of  business  men  of  the  com- 
munity. Neither  the  county  officers  nor  the  citizens' 
committee  attended  the  conference. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  163 


BOWEN  AND  THE  BONDS 

THE  story  of  Bowen  and  the  bonds  will  long  be 
remembered  in  Williamson  County.  It  centers 
around  an  unrighteous  judge  who  came  to  Her- 
rin  and  thought  that  in  order  to  succeed  he  must  cater 
to  the  lawless  element,  that  his  best  financial  inter- 
ests demanded  that  he  stand  in  well  with  that  type 
of  citizen  whose  operations  and  influence  the  Klan 
was  organized  to  discourage  and  destroy.  That  he  has 
sacrificed  honor  in  vain,  in  so  far  as  Williamson 
County  is  concerned,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

And  yet  we  are  glad  for  Bowen*s  bonds.  They 
served  to  advertise  to  the  nation  one  thing  at  least 
which  needed  publicity,  namely,  that  the  best  and  most 
influential  men  of  the  county  were  behind  S.  Glenn 
Young  and  the  great  reform  movement  of  which  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  was  the  very  backbone.  But  I  must 
hasten  to  the  story. 

On  February  14th,  City  Judge  E.  N.  Bowen  of  the 
Herrin  City  Court,  ordered  a  special  grand  jury  to 
convene  at  the  City  Hall  of  Herrin  on  Monday,  Feb- 
ruary 25th,  to  make  a  thorough  and  complete  investi- 
gation of  the  riot  of  February  8th,  which  resulted  in 
the  death  of  Constable  Caesar  Cagle,  the  serious 
wounding  of  Deputy  Sheriff  John  Layman,  the  so- 
called  "shooting  up  of  the  Herrin  Hospital",  and  other 
disorders. 

"If  Herrin  has  a  dirty  coat  it  is  up  to  Herrin  to 
do   her   own   dry   cleaning,"   Judge   Bowen   declared. 


164  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

''The  City  of  Herrin  is  the  place  that  has  the  black  eye, 
and  we  are  going  to  try  to  clear  our  name",  he  said. 

**I  have  no  criticism  to  make  of  any  previous  in- 
vestigations", the  judge  said,  ''but  we  want  to  do  our 
own  house  cleaning.  The  special  grand  jury  will  be 
charged  to  make  a  thorough  and  complete  investigation 
of  the  entire  affair." 

The  Herrin  City  Court,  over  which  Judge  Bowen 
presides,  has  the  same  authority  as  the  circuit  court 
only  its  jurisdiction  is  limited  to  within  the  corporate 
city  limits. 

The  special  grand  jury  did  not  begin  its  work  until 
March  3rd.  After  a  nine  day  session  they  returned 
ninety-nine  indictments  against  various  citizens  of 
Herrin.  Many  of  the  indictments  carried  several 
counts.  They  ranged  from  "malicious  mischief"  to 
"murder".  Prominent  and  respected  citizens  were 
charged  with  well  nigh  every  crime  on  the  calendar. 
The  efforts  of  the  jury,  however,  seem  to  have  been 
particularly  directed  upon  S.  Glenn  Young,  against 
whom  they  brought  in  thirty-one  indictments  of  sixty- 
five  counts,  charging  him  with  everything  from  assault 
to  murder,  down  to  petty  larceny. 

This  special  grand  jury,  upon  which  Mr.  Young 
affirms  were  two  former  bootleggers  and  several  of 
the  most  notorious  characters  in  the  county,  made  a 
very  singular  report  on  the  situation  in  Williamson 
County  and  especially  of  Herrin.  The  report  was  as 
follows : 

"State  of  Illinois,  Williamson  County,  City  of 
Herrin. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  165 

*ln  the  City  Court  of  the  City  of  Herrin,  to  the 
March  Term  A.  D.  1924. 

"To  the  Honorable  E.  N.  Bowen,  Judge  of  the  City 
Court  of  the  City  of  Herrin,  Williamson  County, 
Illinois. 

"We  the  Special  Grand  Jury,  now  sitting  in  Grand 
Inquisition  at  the  March  Term,  A.  D.  1924,  of  the 
aforesaid  City  Court  of  the  City  of  Herrin,  Williamson 
County,  Illinois,  upon  reporting  in  open  court  of  re- 
turns made  by  us  concerning  matters  investigated  at 
the  said  term  of  said  Court,  and  before  asking  to  be 
by  the  Court  discharged  from  further  duties  as  Grand 
Jurors,  beg  to  make  the  following  report  to  your  Honor 
as  to  the  conditions  found  to  have  existed  in  the  City 
of  Herrin  during  the  late  so-called  Klan  and  Anti- 
Klan  activities: 

"We  find  that  in  the  said  City  of  Herrin,  during  a 
period  of  some  four  or  five  days,  approximately  com- 
mencing with  the  8th  day  of  February,  1924,  what 
might  be  probably  called  a  *Reign  of  Terror'  existed 
as  a  result  of  acts  of  oppression  and  persecution  by  the 
so  called  Ku  Klux  Klan,  which  resulted  in  some  meas- 
ure of  retaliation  by  an  Anti-Klan  order,  known  as  the 
Knights  of  the  Flaming  Circle. 

"We  further  find  that  during  the  so-called  raids 
by  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  under  the  leadership  of  one  S. 
Glenn  Young,  who  is  purported  to  be  hired  by  the  Ku 
Klux  Klan  for  such  purpose,  numerous  people  w^ere 
robbed,  beaten,  abused  and  in  many  instances  impris- 
oned secretly,  without  any  legal  process  and  wholly 
without  justifiable  cause,  which  ultimately  resulted  in 
the  calling  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard  to  William- 


166  LIFE     AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

son  County,  a  Company  of  which  is  still  on  duty  in 
the  City  of  Herrin. 

"This  Grand  Jury  most  respectfully  reports  to  the 
court  that  for  nine  days  we  have  worked  diligently  to 
learn  and  report  to  the  court  the  principal  occurrences 
giving  rise  to  and  constituting  the  troubles  in  Herrin 
in  the  period  of  time  beginning  at  about  10:00  p.  m. 
on  February  8th,  1924.  We  have  also  used  every 
effort  to  learn  who  were  the  men  guilty  of  the  crimes 
and  outrages  committed  in  and  about  Herrin  during 
said  time. 

"The  true  bills  returned  into  court  are  a  part  of  the 
results  of  these  labors  in  this  behalf. 

"We  think  it  proper  to  also  report  to  the  court, 
as  a  matter  of  public  concern,  some  of  the  conclusions 
reached  by  this  jury  touching  certain  matters  growing 
out  of  the  evidence  heard  by  it,  which  conclusions  are 
distinct  from  the  legal  findings  resulting  in  bills  re- 
turned. These  conclusions  arise  from  facts  forced 
upon  the  attention  of  this  jury  by  the  evidence  heard, 
and  are  matters  of  great  public  importance,  and,  we 
think,  show  a  condition  that  threatens  the  verj' 
foundation  of  civil  government  and  society  in  William- 
son County  and  in  Herrin. 

"Somewhere  about  9:00  p.  m.,  February  8th,  1924, 
a  difficulty  occurred  in  which  John  Layman,  deputy 
sheriff,  was  seriously  wounded.  He  was  taken  almost 
immediately  to  the  Herrin  Hospital  for  treatment.  At 
this  time  the  streets  were  full  of  men  and  about  one- 
half-hour  after  Layman  was  shot,  Caesar  Cagle,  a 
constable,  was  killed  in  the  streets.  As  these  matters 
are  likely  to  be  subjects  of  cases  in  court,  we  do  not 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  167 

think  it  prudent  to  discuss  the  shooting  of  Layman 
and  Cagle  in  this  report. 

"Soon  after  this  shooting  of  Cagle,  a  large  body  of 
men,  being  estimated  from  150  to  500  in  number, 
gathered  at  the  Herrin  Hospital,  under  the  apparent 
claim  that  the  slayers  of  Cagle  had  taken  refuge  there- 
in. Being  refused  admission  to  the  hospital,  this  body 
of  men,  all  of  whom  seem  to  have  been  armed  with 
guns  and  pistols,  made  an  unlawful  attack  upon  the 
hospital  and  fired  into  the  doors  and  windows  thereof 
hundreds  of  shots,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  hospital 
was  filled  with  patients,  some  of  them  in  the  most  seri- 
ous physical  condition. 

"One  room,  in  which  there  was  a  woman,  had  six- 
teen shots  fired  into  the  windows.  The  facts  of  this 
attack  as  detailed  to  this  jury,  are  entirely  beyond 
description  and  are  almost  beyond  belief.  This  attack 
was  entirely  unlawful  and  without  any  justification 
whatever,  and  was  the  most  amazing  display  of  mob 
violence  which  has  ever  come  to  the  certain  knowledge 
of  the  members  of  this  jury. 

"Early  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  February, 
certain  parties,  led  by  one  S.  Glenn  Young,  assumed 
to  take  over  the  office  of  the  government  of  the 
City  of  Herrin.  The  Mayor,  C.  E.  Anderson,  was  un- 
lawfully seized  and,  with  several  others,  was  placed 
in  jail,  where  they  remained  three  days  before  they 
were  released.  George  Galligan,  the  Sheriff  of  Wil- 
liamson County,  was  seized  without  the  least  sem- 
blance of  authority  and  carried  out  of  the  county  and 
finally  placed  in  the  Champaign  jail,  and  was  out  of 
the  county  in  all  about  three  days.  During  this  un- 
lawful and  violent  incarceration  of  the   Sheriff  and 


168  LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

Mayor,  the  government  of  the  city  and  largely  of  Wil- 
liamson County,  was  assumed  and  taken  over  by  the 
said  S.  Glenn  Young,  who  was  not  a  citizen  of  the 
county,  and  who  claimed  to  be  acting  chief  of  police, 
in  spite  of  the  law,  which,  as  this  jury  is  informed, 
provides  that  no  man  can  legally  act  as  any  such 
officer  unless  he  has  been  a  citizen  of  the  state  and 
county  one  whole  year  before  he  so  assumes  to  act. 

''It  seems  clear  to  this  jury,  from  the  evidence 
heard,  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  said  S.  Glenn 
Young  and  those  acting  in  concert  with  him,  to  over- 
throw the  civil  authority  in  Herrin  and  Williamson 
County,  seize  and  imprison  the  Sheriff  and  Mayor  and 
take  upon  themselves  the  task  of  government  without 
any  legal  authority  whatever. 

"Carrying  out  this  idea  many  of  the  most  respect- 
able and  best  known  citizens  of  Herrin  were  thrown 
into  jail  without  even  the  semblance  of  a  complaint  or 
warrant,  and  without  authority,  simply  upon  the  order 
of  said  Young,  and  a  great  many  men  assumed  to  act 
as  policemen  without  any  right  except  the  supposed 
authority  of  the  said  Young,  and  this  jury  finds  that 
the  said  Young  acted  entirely  without  authority  in 
all  that  he  did.  The  streets  were  filled  with  armed 
men  who  assumed  to  have  control  of  the  city,  and  all 
men  moving  in  the  streets  were  challenged  by  these 
armed  men  who  demanded  of  them  some  secret  pass- 
word not  known  to  this  jury,  and  all  who  had  not  this 
mysterious  password  were  either  arrested  or  driven 
from  the  streets. 

"The  evidence  shows  that  the  County  and  City 
were  only  relieved  from  this  unbearable  situation  by 
the  arrival  of  the  soldiers. 


RAIDER   S.    GLENN    YOUNG 169 

"We  think  Sheriff  Galligan  is  to  be  commended  for 
calling  for  the  troops.  Their  timely  arrival  certainly 
saved  the  City  and  County  the  most  serious  trouble. 

''This  grand  jury  condemns  all  these  acts  of  vio- 
lence and  oppression  as  being  wrong  in  principle  and 
without  authority. 

''We  condemn  and  deplore  mob  violence  in  every 
form  and  the  promiscuous  and  open  carrying  of  pistols 
and  guns  in  public  places  without  authority. 

"We  condemn  the  assumption  of  police  authority 
in  this  County  by  any  organization  or  order,  secret  or 
otherwise,  whatever,  or  by  any  person  whomsoever, 
except  by  the  legally  appointed  and  qualified  officers 
of  the  law,  recognized  and  provided  for  by  the  statutes 
of  Illinois. 

"We  particularly  condemn  the  importation  into 
Williamson  County  and  into  the  City  of  Herrin,  of 
any  man  who  is  not  a  resident  and  citizen  of  said 
County,  and  the  attempt  to  place  in  the  hands  of  any 
such  non-citizens  and  non-residents  police  or  other 
executive  authority  in  plain  violation  of  the  written 
law  of  Illinois.  Such  acts  and  such  attempts  can  only 
lead  to  disorder  and  to  violence  and  necessarily,  to 
crime. 

"We  condemn  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  any  order, 
secret  or  otherwise,  to  stir  up  strife  and  hatred  be- 
tween classes  of  our  citizens  on  account  of  race  or 
birth  or  religion.  All  classes,  races  or  religions  are 
equal  before  the  law  and  ought  to  be  equal  in  fact. 
Any  man  who  attempts  to  raise  a  race  war  or  a  re- 
ligious war  is  a  public  enemy. 


170 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

"Finally,  we  earnestly  call  upon  all  the  citizens  of 
Herrin  and  Williamson  County,  without  regard  to  race 
or  tribe  or  creed,  to  come  to  the  support  of  the  officers 
of  the  law  and  of  the  constituted  authority  recognized 
by  the  law,  and  help  to  re-establish  and  maintain  law 
and  order  in  the  County  and  in  this  City,  and  help 
make  them  fit  places  for  the  residence  of  civilized 
people." 

The  jury  which  made  this  report  to  City  Judge 
Bowen  was  composed  of  the  following  men : — 

Guy  Minto,  Herrin,  foreman;  Marchal  Edwards, 
Corinth ;  Henry  Arms,  Corinth ;  Elmer  Miller,  Marion ; 
Otto  Jennings,  Creal  Springs;  Sylvester  Webb,  Creal 
Springs;  Carrol  Chapman,  Herrin;  Alex.  Haughee, 
Herrin;  Philip  Harris,  Herrin;  Jas  Ranmar,  Herrin; 
W.  B.  Williams,  Herrin;  Geo.  Hamilton,  Marion;  Lit 
Shackelford,  Marion;  David  Babington,  Johnston 
City;  Geo.  Neeley,  Marion;  Wm.  Collins,  Marion;  Bob 
Jackocoby,  Johnston  City;  Harry  Wilson,  Johnston 
City ;  Lott  Bell,  Johnston  City ;  Harry  Slater,  Johnston 
City;  John  McCloskey,  Johnston  City;  E.  M.  McDowell, 
Marion. 

Herrin  Holds  a  Protest  Parade 

'There  will  be  a  parade  in  Herrin  tomorrow  at 
10:00  a.  m.  of  all  citizens  who  are  in  sympathy  with 
Law  Enforcement  and  it  is  requested  that  all  stores  in 
sympathy  with  this  parade  close  their  places  of  busi- 
ness from  9  a.  m.  until  12  m.  The  purpose  of  the  same 
being  to  have  bonds  filed  for  those  indicted  by  the 
grand  jury.'* 

"Committee" 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  171 

In  response  to  this  request  issued  on  the  previous 
day  more  than  ten  thousand  people  swarmed  the 
streets  of  Herrin  on  Tuesday  morning,  March  18th, 
to  make  what  had  been  announced  from  the  churches 
as  a  ''religious  protest"  against  the  "unrighteous  ver- 
dict" of  the  city  grand  jury. 

This  was  indeed  something  new  under  the  sun. 
Certainly  there  is  no  record  of  a  similar  parade  ever 
having  been  held  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  allega- 
tion that  it  was  an  ''intimidation  parade"  was  thus 
far  from  the  truth.  The  fact  that  such  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  crowd  were  respected  members  of  the 
local  churches,  and  that  honored  ministers  of  the  city 
were  active  in  the  whole  affair  is  a  sufficient  answer 
to  that. 

The  crowd  was  estimated  at  between  eight  thou- 
sand and  ten  thousand  people  in  the  line  of  march 
besides  the  people  in  cars  and  those  lined  up  along  the 
streets.  The  thoroughfares  were  practically  deserted 
until  9:00  o'clock,  when  people  began  to  assemble  at 
the  various  churches.  By  9:30  the  streets  were 
crowded  with  men  going  toward  the  Christian  church 
on  South  Park  street.  Following  a  brief  address  by 
Rev.  Glotfelty  the  march  began. 

The  procession  covered  a  stretch  of  ten  blocks. 
In  the  lead  was  a  gaily  decorated  automobile  from 
which  a  huge  American  flag  protruded,  also  a  banner 
indicating  that  the  occupants  of  the  car  were  members 
of  the  Grand  Army  post.  The  marchers  all  carried 
American  flags  of  varying  size. 

By  the  side  of  the  color  bearer,  who  carried  another 
large  American  flag,  marched  S.  Glenn  Young,  two  of 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


the  local  ministers,  and  John  Whitesides  of  Marion. 
In  the  church  section  of  the  procession  banners  dis- 
played the  names  of  the  congregations,  and  women 
were  banded  together  in  one  large  group. 

The  marchers,  accompanied  by  the  Herrin  band 
playing  patriotic  airs,  passed  the  city  hall  several 
times.  From  the  second  story  of  this  building  Judge 
Bowen  and  a  small  group  of  county  and  city  officials 
silently  watched  the  public  demonstration  against  the 
findings  of  his  jurors.  Young  was  applauded  time 
and  time  again  on  the  streets  and  there  was  no  mis- 
taking the  fact  that  the  sentiment  of  the  vast  majority 
was  with  him  in  the  fight  for  a  clean  county  and  the 
enthronement  of  justice  which  Bowen,  lacking  a  sense 
of  humor,  declared  had  been  dethroned. 

During  the  parade,  in  fact  throughout  the  entire 
day,  national  guardsmen  were  stationed  at  the  entrance 
to  the  city  hall.  It  constituted  a  sort  of  ''no-man's 
land"  for  all  but  those  who  had  definite  business  there. 
From  the  roof  of  an  adjoining  building  a  trooper, 
armed  with  revolvers  and  a  rifle  covered  the  doorway. 
Two  guardsmen  stood  on  the  corner,  and  with  fixed 
bayonets  kept  the  people  moving.  The  sidewalk  on 
both  sides  of  the  city  building  was  kept  cleared. 

At  the  top  of  the  wide  stairs  leading  to  the  court 
room  on  the  second  floor  two  more  guardsmen  were 
stationed  with  bristling  bayonets,  barring  the  entrance 
to  the  court  room,  which  only  the  defendants,  their 
bondsmen,  newspaper  men  and  the  officials  were  per- 
mitted to  enter.  Everyone  making  an  attempt  to  enter 
was  searched  for  concealed  weapons  by  the  troopers. 

Major  John  H.  Powers  of  Decatur  was  in  charge 
of  seven  guardsmen,  but  during  the  day  he  was  re- 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  173 

lieved  by  Major  R.  W.  Davis  of  Carbondale,  who  is  a 
part  owner  of  the  Carbondale  Free  Press. 

That  there  was  considerable  tension  in  the  air  on 
Bond  Tuesday  may  be  readily  conceived,  but  there  was 
no  disorder  of  any  kind.  Groups  of  men  stood  about 
the  streets  all  day  and  discussed  the  situation,  but 
there  were  no  other  demonstrations  apart  from  the 
orderly  parade,  and  there  was  no  act  of  lawlessness  in 
connection  with  the  whole  affair.  From  the  windows 
of  the  few  former  "soft"  drink  parlors,  and  from 
lunch  rooms  and  cigar  stores  many,  who  are  defend- 
ants in  liquor  cases  as  the  result  of  Young's  activities, 
watched  with  subdued  interest  the  scene  without. 

Within  Judge  Bowen's  court  all  was  in  readiness, 
and  the  anticipation  on  the  part  of  all  who  were  a 
party  of  the  plan  arranged  must  have  been  very  keen. 
That  it  had  been  agreed  among  them  to  make  the  bonds 
for  the  indicted  Klansmen,  especially  S.  Glenn  Young, 
so  high  that  they  could  not  furnish  them  and  would  be 
confined  in  jail,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Shylock  never 
hungered  for  his  pound  of  Gentile  flesh  with  half  the 
zest  that  Judge  Bowen  et  al  hungered  for  revenge  upon 
the  man  who  had  shown  up  the  rottenness  and  ineffi- 
ciency of  many  of  the  officials  of  the  county  and  of  the 
City  of  Herrin. 

All  is  now  ready  for  the  big  act.  The  parade  is 
over.  In  the  streets  surrounding  the  city  hall  thou- 
sands eagerly  and  yet  patiently  await  the  outcome,  as 
the  defendants  file  past  the  "dead  line",  established  by 
the  guardsmen,  into  Bowen's  court. 

As  Young,  Sam  Stearns,  who  is  chairman  of  the 
board  of  county  commissioners  and  Exalted  Cyclops  of 


174  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


the  Williamson  County  Klan,  Abe  Hicks,  Herrin's 
police  magistrate,  Chief  of  Police  John  Ford  and 
Wallace  A.  Bandy,  State  Representative,  enter  the 
court  room  each  is  greeted  with  a  round  of  applause. 

At  a  long  table  immediately  in  front  of  the  judge 
are  seated  six  newspaper  men  and  two  girl  clerks. 
Upon  it  are  the  files  in  the  grand  jury  indictments. 
Delos  (Firefly)  Duty  had  charge  for  the  State  and 
Arlie  Boswell,  himself  indicted  several  times  by  the 
jury,  served  for  the  defendants. 

Glenn  Young,  Ike  Tetford,  Gilbert  Waller,  John 
Smith,  Taylor  Noll,  Leonard  Wagner,  Charles  Green, 
Jay  Johnson,  Harry  Herrin,  Charles  Cargal  and  Otis 
Maynard,  all  indicted  together  for  assault  with  at- 
tempt to  commit  murder,  were  the  first  to  be  ar- 
raigned. Bonds  were  fixed  at  $4,000  for  each  man, 
and  bondsmen,  declaring  themselves  worth  $180,000 
quickly  offered  themselves  as  sureties. 

Other  arraignments,  in  nearly  all  of  which  Young 
figured,  were  similar  in  character,  ranging  from  the 
most  serious  crimes  to  those  of  lesser  importance. 
When  bond  was  called  for,  men,  claiming  to  be  worth 
from  $6,000  to  $500,000  promptly  affixed  their  signa- 
tures. In  the  indictments  taken  care  of  on  Tuesday 
morning,  March  18th,  the  bonds  ranged  from  $4,000  to 
$132,000.  The  whole  morning  was  occupied  in  caring 
for  seventeen  indictments,  leaving  eighty-two  to  be 
taken  care  of  in  the  afternoon. 

When  Judge  Bowen  stated  that  a  safe  estimate 
would  be  two  and  one  half  million  dollars  bonds  for 
the  defendants,  Young  stated  that  his  followers  and 
bondsmen    worth    twenty-five    million    dollars    stood 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 175 

ready  to  act  as  sureties.  One  defendant  declared  that 
a  friend  of  the  cause  from  St.  Louis  had  phoned  early 
in  the  morning  to  say  that  if  needed  he  would  come  to 
Herrin  and  stand  sponsor  for  the  defendants  to  the 
extent  of  six  million  dollars. 

The  actual  arraignment  of  the  defendants  and  the 
filing  of  bonds  could  not  be  completed  on  Tuesday. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  afternoon  Judge  Bowen  post- 
poned further  proceedings  until  Thursday.  Following 
his  action,  Young  turned  to  his  followers  and  said: 
"Well,  I  want  you  fellows  to  be  here  Thursday  so  we 
can  finish  this  up" !  ''We'll  be  with  you  Glenn",  yelled 
a  hundred  men,  and  there  was  generous  applause. 

Thursday  saw  the  same  enthusiastic  rally  of  the 
adherents  of  law  enforcement  to  the  cause.  Bonds 
were  filled  as  rapidly  as  they  were  presented.  Some 
of  the  best  citizens  of  Marion,  Johnston  City,  Carter- 
ville,  Cambria,  Herrin  and  other  places  were  on  hand 
to  satisfy  the  exorbitant  demands  of  the  court,  which 
ultimately  required  bonds  amounting  to  $5,000,000.00 
before  it  would  release  the  defendants. 


J 


176 


LIFE     Ay  D     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER   S.    GLENN    YOUNG  177 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OKAW  BOTTOMS 

SHAKESPEARE  causes  one  of  his  characters  to 
ask  the  question,  "Is  there  a  crime  beneath  the 
roof  of  heaven  that  stains  the  soul  of  man  with 
more  infernal  hue  than  damned  assassination?" 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  23rd  there  occurred  one 
of  the  most  pathetic  and  tragic  incidents  in  the  sen- 
sational program  of  events  which  have  served  for 
many  weeks  to  keep  Williamson  County  in  the  columns 
of  the  metropolitan  press.  The  tragedy,  which  with 
pained  heart  I  now  record,  did  not  take  place  in  this 
county,  but  there  are  strong  reasons  to  believe  that 
the  hellish  deed  was  instigated  within  its  confines. 
Perhaps  the  crime  was  hatched  in  the  same  cruel 
brain  that  planned  the  murder  of  Caesar  Cagle  on  the 
streets  of  Herrin. 

Knowing  that  Young  had  a  multitude  of  friends  in 
Williamson  County,  his  enemies  would  not  dare  to 
harm  him  within  its  precincts.  Evidently  keeping  in 
close  touch  with  his  every  movement,  they  laid  in  wait 
for  him,  and  with  deadly  shot  guns  and  automatics 
made  a  determined  attempt  to  murder  both  himself  and 
his  brave  little  wife  as  they  journeyed  toward  East  St. 
Louis  on  the  Atlantic-Pacific  highway. 

I  fear  that  there  are  some  men  and  women  in  Wil- 
liamson County  and  elsewhere  who  are  so  debased  in 
thought  and  degraded  in  life  as  to  be  indifferent  to 
what  happened  there  in  the  Okaw  River  bottoms  that 
afternoon.  They  may  even  secretly  rejoice  in  the 
affair.  There  are  others  so  utterly  abandoned  to  evil 
that  they  regret  the  failure  of  the  would-be  assassins 


178 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

to  acomplish  their  hellish  purpose,  for  the  success  of 
which  a  substantial  reward  is  known  to  have  been 
offered.  Of  this,  however,  I  am  confident,  that  every 
true  man,  every  man  and  woman  with  decent  red 
blood  flowing  in  their  veins,  and  the  love  of  right  with- 
in their  hearts,  cannot  think  of  the  tragedy  without 
a  deep  stirring  of  soul,  and  an  intensifying  of  feeling 
against  the  thug,  the  bootlegger,  and  the  unprincipled, 
money  palmed  officials  who  protect  them. 

It  was  one  of  those  few  warm,  radiant  May  days 
that  graced  the  spring  of  nineteen-twenty-four.  Every- 
thing in  nature  seemed  vocal  with  joy  and  eloquent 
with  peace.  It  is  the  nature  of  murder  to  seek  the 
dark  shadows  of  the  night.  Who  would  dream  of  it 
pursuing  its  bloody  quest  in  the  sunlight  of  a  May 
day,  and  along  a  pathway  redolent  with  the  fragrance 
of  flowers  and  gladdened  by  the  sweet  minstrelsy  of 
the  birds  singing  to  their  mates  in  the  loveland  of 
spring? 

Perhaps  it  is  an  index  of  moral  and  social  condi- 
tions today,  that  what  once  sought  the  ambush  of  the 
wings  of  night,  now  operates  even  in  the  light  of  noon- 
day. I  recall  the  time  when  daylight  robbery  and 
murder  were  somewhat  remarkable.  Today  they  are 
of  daily  occurrence  and  elicit  no  surprise.  Is  it  that 
men  are  waxing  worse  and  worse,  as  the  Book  of 
Books  says  they  will  in  the  latter  days  ?  Or,  is  it  a  by- 
product of  war,  through  which  human  life  has  been 
cheapened  to  many,  and  they  themselves  hardened  to 
bloodshed?  Of  that  I  must  leave  it  to  my  readers  to 
judge. 

When  S.  Glenn  Young  and  his  refined  and  comely 
companion  left  Williamson  County  shortly  after  noon 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXX    YOUNG 


179 


Son  of  S.  Glenn  Young 


on  Friday,  May  23rd,  en  route  to  East  St.  Louis,  there 
was  no  thought  within  the  minds  of  either  that  tragedy 
was  impending.  Even  the  stern  duties  of  Glenn's  task 
as  a  law  enforcement  officer  were  forgotten  in  the  glory 
of  spring  and  the  beauty  of  the  vision  which  greeted 
them  on  every  hand.  As  they  traveled  at  moderate 
rate  in  their  Lincoln  car,  the  gift  of  many  admirers, 
the  mother's  thoughts  were  often  centered  in  her  off- 
spring, a  sweet  wee  babe  of  less  than  two  years,  for- 
tunately left  in  care  of  Mrs.  Young's  mother  for  a 


180  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

few  days  while  sHe  accompanied  her  husband  on  a 
speaking  tour  in  Williamson  and  Saline  Counties. 

It  may  be  that  mother's  imagination  was  enjoying 
the  vision  of  her  baby's  face.  Perhaps  she  could 
feel  the  circling  arms  of  her  little  one,  and  the  pres- 
sure of  her  offspring  against  her  breast,  when  murder 
suddenly  thrust  its  vile  shadow  across  the  path  to  end 
the  lovely  dream. 

On  the  Atlantic-Pacific  Highway  a  short  distance 
West  of  the  village  of  Okawville,  there  is  a  stretch  of 
cinder  road  running  through  the  Okaw  River  bottoms. 
On  either  side  of  the  road  is  a  steep  embankment  at 
the  bottom  of  which  back  water  from  the  river  often 
lies  for  many  weeks  in  the  spring  of  the  year.  A 
thick  growth  of  trees  follows  this  road  for  over  a  mile. 
There  are  no  human  habitations  here.  Loneliness  pre- 
vails, relieved  only  by  the  occasional  chug  of  the  pass- 
ing automobile.  It  was  such  a  setting  which  the 
would-be  assassins  chose  for  their  assault. 

Mid-way  between  two  bridges  and  on  a  narrow 
stretch  of  the  road,  a  Dodge  car,  which  had  been 
trailing  Young's  sedan,  speeded,  and  passing  on  his 
left  poured  a  volley  of  buckshot  into  the  Klan  leader 
and  his  wife.  Eighteen  of  these  lodged  themselves  in 
Mrs.  Young's  face  and  neck,  while  a  forty-five  calibre 
automatic  bullet  pierced  the  body  of  the  car  and  struck 
Glenn  in  the  leg  a  few  inches  below  the  knee.  The 
missile  fractured  the  large  bone,  glanced  and  frac- 
tured the  small  bone,  then  remained  just  within  the 
skin  on  the  calf  of  the  leg. 

As  soon  as  the  first  volley  was  fired,  Glenn,  to  pre- 
vent, if  possible,  further  danger  to  his  wife,  stopped 
the  car  and  stepped  to  the  road,  dropped  to  the  cinders 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  181 


Maude  Simcox  Young,  from  a  recent  photo,  taken  since  blinded. 


182  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

beside  the  car.  As  he  groveled  there,  aware  for  the 
first  time  that  his  limb  was  seriously  wounded,  the 
bullets  fairly  rained  round  about  him  but  did  no 
further  harm.  After  emptying  their  guns  and  pistols 
the  gunmen  sped  West  on  the  highway.  Within  the 
space  of  a  few  seconds  Young  had  paid  a  terrible 
price  for  his  fearless  and  heroic  efforts  against  law 
violators  in  Williamson  County.  If  half  a  chance  had 
been  his  to  reach  his  automatics  or  his  sub-machine 
gun,  his  enemies  and  those  of  the  social  body  who  shot 
him  dowm  would  doubtless  have  received  swift  justice. 
Knowing  that  they  had  no  chance  with  him  in  a  fair 
fight  they  chose  the  way  of  the  coward. 

Fully  twenty  minutes  elapsed  between  the  at- 
tempted assassination  and  the  arrival  of  friendly 
hands  to  minister  help  to  the  unfortunate  victims  of 
criminal  hatred  and  intrigue.  Though  severely 
wounded  himself,  Young  did  all  that  he  possibly  could 
do,  during  this  time,  to  help  his  stricken  wife,  w^ho  was 
drenched  in  blood,  and  her  face  marred  and  swollen 
beyond  recognition.  Upon  the  arrival  of  another  car, 
ambulance  service  was  called  from  Mascoutah,  and 
Mrs.  Young  removed  to  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital  in 
Belleville.  Here  the  bullets  were  removed  from  her 
face  and  neck.  One  had  struck  below  the  right  eye, 
and  another  above  the  left  optic,  destroying  the  sight 
of  both.  The  muscles  which  control  the  tongue  were 
also  penetrated,  an  injury  which  almost  resulted  in 
her  strangulation  when  on  the  way  to  the  hospital. 

It  is  now  several  days  since  the  tragedy.  There  in 
St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  ministered  to  by  friendly 
hands,  both  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  lies  the 
fair  and  innocent  victim  of  cowardly  brutality.     Her 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  183 

room  is  fairly  banked  with  floral  tributes  from  a  large 
group  of  friends  who  love  and  respect  her.  With  the 
same  pluck  that  has  characterized  this  brave  little 
woman  throughout  all  the  past  weeks  and  months  of 
danger,  she  lies  there  without  murmur  or  complaint, 
awaiting  with  sad  heart  but  courageous  soul  the  ver- 
dict of  time.  Will  she  ever  look  upon  the  face  of  her 
darling  babe  again?  Or,  marred,  handicapped  and 
limited,  is  she  doomed  to  live  the  remainder  of  her 
days  as  a  pathetic  and  eloquent  illustration  of  a 
woman's  sacrifice,  and  of  the  hellish  results  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  outlawed,  and  yet  protected  even  by  offi- 
cials elected  by  the  people  and  pledged  to  protect  our 
citizenship  against  the  violation  of  the  eighteenth 
amendment? 

When  the  Moll  ambulance  from  Mascoutah  left  the 
scene  of  the  assault,  conveying  Mrs.  Young  to  the 
hospital  ward,  Glenn  remained  with  his  car  until  a  pass- 
ing automobile  passenger  offered  to  drive  him  into 
Belleville.  Here  the  wounded  Klan  leader  went  to  the 
same  hospital,  where  the  bullet  was  soon  located  and 
removed  from  his  injured  leg.  The  bullet,  which  had 
lodged  with  such  splintering  effect,  was  one  of  twenty 
which  had  punctured  the  body  of  the  car.  Most  of 
these  were  buckshot,  but  others  were  .45  calibre  army 
pistols. 

But  what  of  the  would-be-assassins?  Glenn  im- 
mediately telegraphed  descriptions  of  the  Dodge  auto- 
mobile and  its  occupants  to  towns  lying  between  there 
and  St.  Louis.  Word  was  also  communicated  to  John 
Ford,  chief-of -police  in  Herrin,  to  be  on  the  look  out  for 
the  parties  whom  Young  knew  to  have  done  the  shoot- 
ing.    Albert  Jones,  a  Herrin  police  officer,  deputized 


184  LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

ten  or  twelve  men  ''to  investigate  suspicious  char- 
acters". 

On  Saturday  morning  a  questionable  looking  car, 
passed  through  Carterville,  apparently  on  its  way  to 
Herrin.  Word  concerning  this  armed  car  was  flashed 
to  Herrin,  and  a  number  of  men,  duly  deputized  by 
officer  Albert  Jones,  were  sent  to  the  w^est  end  of  the 
city,  where  they  formed  a  cordon  at  the  end  of  the 
cement  road  which  connects  Carterville  with  Herrin. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  suspiected  car,  a  heavily 
curtained  Dodge  Touring,  came  into  sight  and  w^as 
signaled  to  stop.  For  an  answer  one  of  the  occupants 
opened  fire  upon  the  officers,  while  the  other  manipu- 
lated the  car  off  the  hard  road,  missed  another  car  and 
hit  head  on  into  a  third.  The  tw^o  cars  headed  into  the 
ditch.  Shots  continued  to  come  from  the  suspect  car, 
to  which  the  deputies  replied  until  their  firing  ceased. 
One  of  the  two  in  the  Dodge  was  seen  to  fall  toward 
the  side  of  the  car,  where  he  sank  to  the  floor.  This 
was  Jack  Skelcher.  The  other  man,  who  gave  his 
name  as  ''Brown",  opened  the  door  of  the  car  when  it 
came  to  a  stop,  and  started  to  run  across  the  field.  In 
an  effort  to  stop  him  several  shots  were  fired,  one  of 
which  took  effect  in  his  leg,  bringing  him  to  a  halt. 

After  the  wreck  and  the  shooting,  Traffic  Officer 
Jones  was  called  out  to  straighten  out  the  traffic  which 
had  become  jammed.  He  also  took  charge  of  the  car 
in  which  the  men  were  traveling.  Both  men  were 
rushed  to  the  Herrin  hospital,  where  Skelcher  died 
shortly  after  his  arrival.  Brown's  injury  was  not  at 
all  serious,  and  he  would  probably  have  made  his 
escape  from  the  building  if  the  officers  had  not  kept 
him  under  careful  guard. 


RAIDER    S.    GLE^N    YOUNG 185 

A  thorough  search  of  the  car  brought  to  light  the 
following  interesting  and  somewhat  suspicious  items 
of  interest,  carefully  wrapped  in  an  oil  cloth  bag: — 
One  jar  of  face  cream,  one  lip  stick,  some  nose  putty, 
two  boxes  of  make-up,  one  bottle  of  bay  rum,  one  .38 
Smith  Special  with  four  empty  shells  and  two  loaded 
ones,  one  forty-five  automatic,  and  one  riot  gun.  This 
is  a  sawed  off  shot  gun,  and  it  is  alleged  belongs  to 
Williamson  County,  as  the  numbers  on  the  gun  are 
identical  with  the  one  that  should  be  in  the  possession 
of  the  county  sheriff.  Skelcher  is  said  to  have  been 
seen  with  a  gun  like  this  one  on  the  night  prior  to  the 
murder  of  Caesar  Cagle.  It  is  affirmed  that  he  was  at 
the  Rome  Club  of  Herrin  with  the  gun  in  his  posses- 
sion on  the  night  when  the  Klan  officer  was  murdered. 
The  shells  in  the  Riot  Gun  were  of  B-B  size. 

In  addition  to  the  articles  named  a  large  black 
mask  was  found  in  the  car.  This  mask  was  large 
enough  to  completely  cover  the  head,  and  had  only 
eye  holes  to  see  through.  There  were  two  hats,  an 
0.  D.  shirt,  one  pair  of  khaki  trousers,  and  one  bloody 
handkerchief,  in  addition  to  some  other  old  clothes  all 
muddy  and  soiled. 

The  car,  which  was  brought  to  town  and  stored  in 
Smith's  Garage,  was  identified  later  as  one  stolen  on 
the  previous  Sunday  night.  A  fisherman  who  was 
near  and  saw  the  shooting  affray  in  the  Okaw  bottoms, 
took  the  number  of  the  assailant's  car,  and  it  was 
found  to  correspond  with  the  license  number  of  the 
car  driven  by  Jack  Skelcher  and  '"Brown",  since  identi- 
fied as  Charles  Briggs,  who  with  Bernie  Shelton  had 
been  indicted  some  time  before  for  highway  robbery, 
but  never  apprehended  by  the  county  officers. 


186 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

After  receiving  treatment  at  the  hospital  in  Her- 
rin,  Briggs  was  confined  in  the  county  jail.  Efforts 
to  induce  him  to  talk  were  unavailing.  He  maintained 
a  policy  of  silence. 

Another  car,  in  which  were  the  Shelton  brothers, 
under  indictment  for  the  Cagle  killing,  had  been  seen 
to  follow  that  driven  by  Skelcher  and  **Briggs".  This 
car  was  seen  in  Carterville,  en  route  to  Herrin,  and 
again  passed  through  the  community,  after  the  Hemn 
affair,  going  South.  Chief  of  Police  Ford  saw  it  fol- 
lowing the  Skelcher  car  into  Herrin,  and  observed  it 
turn  back  when  the  bandit  car  was  stopped. 

This  fact,  together  with  the  affirmation  of  Young 
that  the  Shelton  brothers  were  among  the  four  occu- 
pants of  the  Dodge  car  which  had  assaulted  them  in 
the  Okaw  bottoms,  caused  charges  to  be  preferred 
against  them  and  Briggs  as  the  parties  guilty  of  the 
firing  which  ruined  the  life  of  Mrs.  Young  and  almost 
ended  the  career  of  her  husband. 

Briggs  was  taken  to  Carlyle,  in  Clinton  County, 
where  a  formal  charge  was  preferred  against  him  and 
the  Shelton  brothers.  Earl  and  Carl.  The  latter  sur- 
rendered several  days  later  and  gave  the  necessary 
bond.  A  hearing  was  arranged  for  June  18th,  but  was 
postponed  until  the  26th,  because  of  Young's  inability 
to  attend,  his  wound  not  yet  being  suflficiently  healed. 

On  Thursday,  June  26th,  escorted  by  thirty  or 
more  cars  of  loyal  Klansmen  from  various  sections  of 
Southern  Illinois,  Young,  with  his  injured  leg  still  en- 
cased in  plaster  Paris  and  unable  to  walk  without  the 
use  of  crutches,  journeyed  to  Carlyle  in  the  bullet 
scarred  Lincoln  sedan  in  which  he  had  been  attacked 
at  Okawville.    He  did  not  drive  the  machine,  but  rode 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 187 

in  the  back  seat  of  the  car  with  his  foot  resting  on  a 
pillow. 

Needless  to  say,  after  the  attempted  assassination 
of  the  Klan  leader,  and  the  well  known  determination 
of  his  enemies  to  "get  him",  all  Klansmen  in  the  com- 
pany who  had  legal  right  to  carry  arms,  did  so  on  this 
occasion,  not  knowing  what  trouble  might  develop,  for 
they  were  dealing  with  desperate  men,  men  who  had 
as  their  allies  some  of  the  most  notorious  gangsters  in 
East  St.  Louis. 

That  these  precautions  were  fully  justified  was  evi- 
dent upon  their  arrival  at  Carlyle,  the  county-seat  of 
Clinton  County,  for  the  Shelton  brothers  and  Charles 
Briggs  were  accompanied  by  several  members  of  the 
infamous  "Egan  Rats",  well  dressed,  diamond  studded 
gentlemen  who  drove  high  priced,  high  powered  cars 
and  had  every  appearance  of  being  in  the  millionaire 
class.  One  would  never  have  suspected  that  they  had 
long  since  found  their  way  into  the  pages  of  the 
criminal's  ''Who's  Who". 

The  hearing  had  been  set  for  2:00  p.  m.  in  Justice 
E.  H.  Nicolay's  court.  The  Sheltons  and  their  sym- 
pathizers arrived  about  noon.  S.  Glenn  Young  and  his 
party  were  on  hand  just  in  time  for  the  opening  of  the 
court  proceedings.  When  the  "Stormy  Petrel's"  sedan 
pulled  up  at  the  court  house,  which  was  surrounded  by 
Sheriff  Regan's  deputies  armed  with  shot  guns,  he  was 
helped  from  his  machine  by  four  men,  but  crutched  it 
into  court,  apparently  in  good  health  and  spirits, 
though  actually  deeply  depressed  by  the  awful  tragedy 
of  which  his  wife  had  been  the  victim. 

When  the  Young  party  entered  the  court  house. 
Sheriff  Regan  asked  that  all  check  their  weapons  with 


188  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 


him,  and  all  guns,  ranging  from  small  pistols  to  a 
machine  gun,  were  consigned  to  his  care. 

WTien  called  upon  by  Justice  Nicola\^  to  make  a 
statement,  Young  testified  as  follows : — 

"Mrs.  Young  and  myself  had  left  Marion  for  East 
St.  Louis,  and  arriving  at  the  Okaw  Bottoms,  a  Dodge 
touring  car  drove  up  along  side  of  us  with  four  men 
in  it.  The  gunmen  immediately  opened  fire  with  .45 
automatic  pistols  and  shot  guns.  I  saw  all  four  and 
recognized  them.  Mrs.  Young  also  saw  them.  I  told 
Mrs.  Young  to  get  down,  but  she  wanted  to  see  who 
our  assailants  were.  One  of  the  gunmen  pointed  a 
shot  gun  point  blank  in  Mrs.  Young's  face  and  pulled 
the  trigger.  Today  she  is  blind  and  will  never  see  her 
sixteen  months  old  baby  again.  The  thugs  deliberately 
shot  her  in  the  face". 

Young  told  the  Justice  that  he  stopped  his  car  and 
stepped  out  on  the  cinders  at  the  side,  thus  trying  to 
draw  the  fire  away  from  Mrs.  Young.  When  asked 
if  he  could  identify  the  men  who  did  the  shooting  he 
pointed  to  Carl  and  Earl  Shelton  and  Brown,  alias 
(Burton),  alias  (Briggs),  and  said  that  they  were 
the  men. 

The  prosecution  did  not  reveal  its  hand  further  by 
calling  any  additional  witnesses.  '*It  would  be  as 
much  as  their  lives  are  worth  to  call  any  of  the  wit- 
nesses to  the  stand  here  today".  Young  said,  and  all 
those  who  know  the  character  and  history  of  the  men 
alleged  to  have  done  the  damnable  work  have  no  ques- 
tion that  he  spoke  truly. 

It  was  probably  this  refusal  of  the  prosecution  to 
show  its  hand  that  caused  the  Shelton  brothers  and 
Brown  to  waive  preliminary  hearing. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  189 

Joseph  McGlynn  of  East  St.  Louis  and  Judge  C.  A. 
McNeill  of  Carlyle  represented  the  defendants.  Hugh 
Murray  was  prosecuting  attorney  and  was  assisted  by 
Andrew  Nichoff. 

Justice  Nicolay  bound  the  Shelton  brothers  and 
Brown  over  to  the  November  grand  jury  and  fixed 
their  bonds  at  $10,000  on  each  charge,  making  it 
$20,000  for  each  defendant.  All  of  them  gave  bond 
and  were  ready  to  leave  for  home  when  Sheriff  Regan 
arrested  the  trio,  and  Art  Newman,  a  gunman  and 
manager  of  the  Arlington  Hotel  in  East  St.  Louis,  on 
a  murder  conspiracy.  The  warrant  was  issued  by 
Justice  Hicks  of  Herrin.  They  were  lodged  in  jail, 
awaiting  the  necessary  bondsmen  to  provide  them  with 
temporary  freedom. 

Immediately  after  the  hearing  Young  was  placed 
in  his  sedan  and,  escorted  by  a  large  number  of  loyal 
friends,  left  in  the  direction  of  Centralia. 

A  tremendous  crowd,  said  to  have  been  the  largest 
in  the  history  of  Carlyle,  were  gathered  in  the  little 
city  for  this  occasion.  The  court  room  was  packed 
and  hundreds  tried  in  vain  to  gain  an  entrance.  That 
the  sympathies  of  the  crowd  were  with  the  ''Little 
Napoleon  of  Williamson  County"  is  beyond  question, 
for  in  spite  of  the  abuse  and  false  newspaper  propa- 
ganda to  which  S.  Glenn  Young  has  been  subjected 
since  instituting  the  campaign  against  bootleggers  and 
criminals  in  the  county,  his  work  is  gaining  nation- 
wide recognition,  and  the  real  character  of  the  man 
is  becoming  known  to  thousands,  who,  through  lack  of 
knowledge,  have  been  more  or  less  prejudiced  against 
him. 

Scarcely  a  week  had  passed  after  the  jailing  of  the 
Sheltons,  Newman  and  Briggs  Company  before  the  re- 


190  LIFE     A  \  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

port  came  back  to  Williamson  County  that  the  quartet 
had  been  freed.  A  telephone  communication  to  Carlyle 
brought  confirmation  of  their  alleged  release.  The 
Sheriff  of  Clinton  County  stated  that  one  Ora  Thomas 
(the  same  man  whom  witnesses  declared  fired  one  of 
the  fatal  shots  into  Constable  Caesar  Cagle,  and  the 
same  man  who  was  found  guilty  of  liquor  violations 
less  than  six  months  ago,  receiving  four  months  and 
a  heavy  fine  at  the  hands  of  Judge  Lindley  in  Danville) 
came  to  Carlyle  armed  with  a  letter  from  Delos  Duty, 
State's  Attorney  of  Williamson  County,  instructing  the 
sheriff  to  turn  the  prisoners  over  to  Thomas.  The 
sheriff,  not  thoroughly  satisfied  with  the  document 
presented  to  him  by  Thomas,  called  Marion.  Being 
unable  to  get  in  touch  with  the  sheriff  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  State's  Attorney's  ofliice. 

Duty  assured  him  that  the  letter  was  all  right, 
and  that  Ora  Thomas  was  a  duly  constituted  Deputy 
Sheriff,  being  under  bond.  The  sheriflf  still  hesitated 
to  release  the  prisoners,  but  yielded  to  the  request 
when  Thomas  promised  to  bring  the  prisoners  to  Her- 
rin  and  cause  them  to  appear  before  Judge  Hicks. 
The  prisoners  were  subsequently  seen  driving  about 
the  streets  of  East  St.  Louis  in  a  big  Lincoln  sedan. 
It  was  a  clear  case  of  turning  them  loose,  another 
evidence  to  many  of  the  utter  rottenness  of  conditions 
where  the  criminal  has  all  the  protection  and  society 
none.  That  a  man  like  Thomas  should  be  deputized  by 
the  Sheriff's  office  is  clear  evidence  of  collusion  be- 
tween that  ofl^ce  and  the  criminal  class.  That  the 
State's  Attorney  was  a  party  to  it  speaks  loudly  of 
his  utter  unfitness  to  serve  the  people  in  that  or  any 
other  office  where  honor  is  required,  and  loyalty  to 
principle  demanded. 


RAIDER    S.    GLE\X    YOUNG  191 


CLOSING  TRIBUTES 

MY  story  is  ended,  and  yet  just  a  few  of  the 
thrilling  episodes  in  the  spectacular  career  of 
my  hero  have  been  recorded.  It  may  fall  to 
other  hands  than  mine  to  write  other  chapters  in  the 
life  story  of  this  courageous  and  efficient  officer  of  the 
law,  but  those  chapters  cannot  possibly  record  any 
greater  dangers,  more  thrilling  experiences,  or  more 
daring  gambles  with  death  than  those  which  find 
mention  in  this  volume. 

Today  I  spent  several  hours  with  S.  Glenn  Young, 
and  I  marveled  again  as  I  have  marveled  many  times 
during  the  last  few  months,  at  the  remarkable  poise 
and  courage  of  the  man.  Sitting  there  in  the  Ly  Mar 
hotel  at  Herrin,  Illinois,  with  his  bullet  shattered  leg 
resting  upon  a  cushion,  he  seemed  defiantly  indiffer- 
ent to  the  desperate  foes,  into  the  very  heart  of  whose 
haunts  he  had  come,  of  his  own  volition,  to  remain 
until  his  particular  business  was  finished. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  after  the  awful 
tragedy  of  the  Okaw  River  bottoms,  the  crippling  of 
his  own  body,  the  terrible  blinding  of  his  wife,  and  the 
unfair  abuse  of  the  press,  that  the  spirit  of  this  man 
would  be  broken.  But  his  spirit  is  as  indomitable 
today  as  it  was  in  his  country's  service  down  on  the 
plains  of  Texas,  or  amidst  the  mountain  fastnesses  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  where  difficulties  and  death  faced  him 
in  the  open  or  lurked  for  him  in  the  darkness  on  every 
hand.    His  soul  is  just  as  unconquerable  and  his  de- 


192 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

termination  to  ''carry  on"  against  the  violators  of 
Uncle  Sam's  laws  just  as  unwavering  as  in  any  of  the 
days  which  have  past. 

And  to  her  lasting  honor  be  it  said  that  the  spirit 
of  the  dauntless  Glenn  is  just  as  truly  that  of  his  brave 
and  sorely  stricken  wife,  the  little  blind  mother  w^ho 
today  occupies  an  adjoining  room  in  the  hotel.  There, 
unable  to  care  for  herself,  and  with  the  spring-like 
beauty  of  a  former  day  marred  forever,  she  is  utterly 
uncomplaining  and  unswervingly  loyal  to  her  husband 
and  in  her  fealty  to  the  cause  for  which  he  has  dedi- 
cated his  manhood.  We  do  but  justice  when  we  place 
the  laurel  wreath  of  our  loving  praise  upon  the  brow 
of  this  gracious  little  woman,  whose  pitiable  condition 
is  the  result  of  lawlessness  in  our  American  life  and 
corruption  within  official  position,  this  splendid  soul, 
whose  only  crime  was  that  she  was  the  faithful  wife 
of  the  man  who  dared  to  face  hell  itself  in  the  cleaning 
up  of  Williamson  County.  We  do  no  more  than  jus- 
tice, I  say,  when  we  honor  her  who  had  never  wronged 
the  less  than  men  and  worse  than  devils  who  shot  out 
her  beautiful  eyes  on  that  tragic  afternoon  in  May. 

S.  Glenn  Young  and  his  wife  are  martyrs  to  the 
noble  cause  of  civic  righteousness.  They  are  the  un- 
fortunate victims  of  the  ramified  liquor  traffic  and  of 
malfeasance  of  office  in  Williamson  County.  As  J.  M. 
Sheets,  a  clean,  sane  and  capable  Illinois  editor,  has 
well  said  in  the  Oblong  Oracle  of  a  recent  date: — 
"Men  may  ascend  their  pulpits  and  divinely  enunciate 
great  sermons,  and  set  afloat  wonderful  avalanches  of 
oratory;  writers  may  bombard  evil  anywhere  and 
everywhere;  mothers  may  pray  and  fathers  may 
pleadingly  endeavor  to  dissuade  sons  from  traveling 


RAIDER    S.    GLEAN    YOUNG  193 

the  deceitful  trails  of  a  fathomless  life,  and  yet  with 
all  the  reforming  forces  at  hand,  God  has  created  an 
arm  of  humanity,  organized  a  department  of  law  en- 
forcement and  placed  such  men  as  S.  Glenn  Young  at 
its  head,  without  which  this  government  would  not 
long  endure". 

To  face  fearlessly  and  unflinchingly  the  foes  of 
society,  the  would-be  destroyers  of  government,  and 
the  actual  destroyers  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  to 
protect  the  social  body  from  the  thug,  the  murderer 
and  other  enemies  of  the  state  is  a  brave  man's  job.  To 
flirt  with  death  day  by  day  in  loyalty  to  that  task, 
voluntarily  chosen,  is  heroism  at  its  highest. 

S.  Glenn  Young  is  not  a  fanatic  upon  the  question 
of  prohibition,  but  he  believes  that  as  long  as  the  law 
remains  upon  the  statutes  it  should  be  enforced.  In 
his  work  in  Williamson  County  his  activities  were  not 
simply  directed  against  the  violators  of  the  Eighteenth 
Amendment  but  against  those  of  a  more  dangerous 
tjTDe  as  well.  In  order  to  drive  them  out  of  the  county 
it  was  necessary  to  break  up  the  dens  in  which  they 
congregated  and  planned  much  of  the  crime  which 
they  committed  inside  and  outside  of  Williamson. 
Such  places  as  have  been  broken  up  by  Federal  in- 
junction are  the  haunts  of  such  men  as  the  Sheltons, 
Brown,  Jack  Skelcher,  Ora  Thomas  and  Whitey  Doer- 
ing,  the  slain  mail  robber. 

Let  no  Roman  Catholic,  Jew  or  negro  regard  Young 
as  one  in  whose  breast  there  flames  a  burning  ani- 
mosity against  men  of  any  race,  color  or  creed.  The 
only  individuals  or  organizations  his  hand  is  against 
are  those  who  refuse  to  respect  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  of  America.     To  know  him  is  to  be  persuaded 


194  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS    OF 

that  instead  of  being  narrowly  partisan  he  is  a  man 
of  broad  sympathies  and  viewpoints. 

That  he  has  taken  numbers  of  lives  in  the  prose- 
cution of  tasks  assigned  to  him  occasions  no  surprise 
and  elicits  no  criticism  except  among  those  ignorant 
of  his  work  and  the  desperate  nature  of  the  characters 
with  whom  he  has  had  to  deal.  To  take  life  in  self- 
defense  is  surely  sanctioned  by  enlightened  conscience 
and  reason,  particularly  when  the  threatening  foe  has 
been  given  a  fair  chance  for  his  life.  Of  the  thirty  or 
more  men  whom  Young  has  slain  he  declares  that  he 
never  killed  a  man  who  did  not  first  try  to  kill  him. 

To  S.  Glenn  Young  the  government  has  assigned 
the  toughest  and  most  desperate  cases,  government 
intriguers,  insidious  outlaws,  incurable  foes  of  law 
and  order.  None  but  prejudiced  or  unthinking  men 
can  blame  him  for  destroying  the  lives  of  those  who 
would  have  destroyed  him  and  lived  on  to  destroy 
others,  constituting  a  perpetual  menace  to  the  social 
body. 

Today  this  man  who  has  fought  many  a  worthy 
battle,  just  as  truly  his  country's  as  any  fought  over 
seas,  is  in  peii)etual  jeopardy  from  the  shot  gun  of 
the  thug,  and  the  pistol  of  the  ambushed  assassin. 
His  refined  and  loyal  wife  shares  that  danger  with 
him.  The  car  in  which  they  travel  is  innocent  looking 
from  without,  but,  of  necessity,  is  an  arsenal  within. 
And  why  all  this  hazard  and  limitation  of  life  for 
this  famous  officer  of  the  law?  Again  I  declare  that 
it  is  largely  due  to  the  weakness  and  failure  of  Ameri- 
can criminal  law,  to  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  advan- 
tages are  on  the  side  of  the  criminal,  thus  making 
law  a  mockery  to  him  and  leaving  him  at  liberty  to 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  195 

continue  his  depredations  upon  society.  As  many  a 
police  officer  in  our  American  cities  has  been  the  vic- 
tim of  the  murderer^s  bullet  within  the  last  few  years, 
in  no  small  measure,  because  of  the  sad  failure  of  law 
to  function  quickly  and  adequately,  it  will  not  occasion 
gi^eat  suii)rise  if  S.  Glenn  Young,  the  doughty  and 
intrepid  defender  of  society,  will  suddenly  pass  out  at 
the  hand  of  some  desperado  whom  the  administrators 
of  law  have  failed  to  place  and  keep  where  they  belong. 

But  here's  the  expressed  hope  of  thousands  of 
hearts,  that  the  man  who  has  written  his  name  large 
in  many  states  as  a  brave  man,  excelled  by  none  and 
equaled  by  few,  if  any,  law  enforcement  officers  in 
America,  may  yet  be  spared  to  inspire  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  evil  doers  and  to  lend  the  weight  of  his 
influence  to  the  highly  dangerous  and  infinitely  worthy 
task  of  making  America  a  better  and  safer  land  in 
which  to  live. 


196  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


BASIC  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS 

EVEN  the  ultra  optimists,  those  cheerful  gentle- 
men whose  farorite  song  was,  "All's  Well  With 
The  World",  have  been  compelled  to  admit  the 
fact  that  for  some  time  past  America  has  been  experi- 
encing an  unprecedented  era  of  lawlessness.  From 
Capitol  Dome  to  the  humblest  hamlet  on  the  plain  the 
facts  are  too  patent  to  be  denied.  Representative 
Tinkham  of  Massachusetts  recently  affirmed  that  the 
District  of  Columbia  is  300  per  cent  more  drunken 
than  Paris,  and  2,000  per  cent  more  murderous  than 
London.  Circuit  Judge  J.  Hugo  Grimm,  in  an  address 
delivered  a  few  days  ago  in  St.  Louis,  affirmed  that 
"it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  volume  of  crime 
has  been  constantly  on  the  increase  in  this  country". 

Numerous  reasons  for  this  widespread  lawlessness 
have  been  assigned,  and  reams  of  remedies  have  been 
prescribed  to  cure  the  epidemic  which  has  infested 
our  life,  an  actual  menace  to  our  national  greatness 
and  place  of  moral  leadership  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

There  are  those  who  tell  us  that  present  conditions 
are  the  natural  by-product  of  the  Great  World  War, 
that  it  is  only  a  passing  phase  of  our  life  and  will  soon 
spend  itself.  They  declare  that  before  long  we  will 
return  to  a  healthy  respect  for  law  and  delegated 
authority.  War,  they  tell  us,  has  always  produced 
such  conditions,  and  the  greater  the  war  the  more  seri- 
ous and  widespread  the  aftermath  of  lawlessness. 

Then  we  meet  many  representatives  of  the  "I  am 
so  dry"  who  lay  the  burden  of  the  whole  thing  at  the 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  197 

door  of  the  eighteenth  amendment,  blaming  every- 
thing from  Oil  Scandal  down  to  robbery  of  the  corner 
grocery  on  Mr.  Volstead. 

Those  who  really  think,  however,  are  convinced 
that  the  fundamental  causes  of  the  lawless  spirit  so 
manifest  in  America  today,  antedate  the  cataclysm  in 
Europe  and  the  epochal  legislation  against  the  liquor 
traffic  in  America,  made  permanent  we  trust  by  the 
eighteenth  amendment  to  our  Constitution.  They  be- 
lieve that  among  the  basic  causes  of  lawlessness  are : — 

A  Prostituted  Press 

Long  before  the  great  war  released  the  passions  of 
hell,  and  bathed  a  world  in  blood  and  tears  we  had 
numerous  large  newspapers  of  the  sensational,  muck- 
raking order,  which  daily  paraded  the  worst  sins  of 
society  before  the  public  mind  and  through  the  potent 
influence  of  suggestion  sowed  the  seeds  of  lawlessness 
and  crime  in  the  minds  of  impressionable  adolescent 
youth.  The  moral  menace  of  sensational  newspapers 
and  magazines  is  very  great.  I  am  not  a  Christian 
Scientist,  but  they  have  given  to  America  one  good 
thing,  an  efficient  newspaper  free  from  the  slime  of 
vice.  Paul  laid  down  a  great  psychological  principle 
when  he  said : — ''Whatsoever  thijjgs  are  honest,  what- 
soever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are 
of  good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be 
any  praise,  think  on  these  things".  The  American 
press  seems  to  have  reversed  the  Pauline  psychology 
and  says: — "Whatsoever  things  are  dishonest,  what- 
soever things  are  unjust,  whatsoever  things  are  im- 
pure,   whatsoever    things    are   unlovely,    whatsoever 


198 LIFE     ASP     EXPLOITS     OF 

things  are  of  bad  report,  if  there  be  any  vice,  and  if 
there  be  any  curse  .  .  .  think  on  these  things". 
All  this  makes  for  lawlessness  and  crime. 

Education  Minus  Religion 

Judge  Alfred  J.  Talley  says  that,  **0f  all  the  great 
nations  of  the  earth,  save  only  bolshevik  Russia,  we 
alone  exclude  religion  from  our  com-mon  schools." 
Young  criminals  are  not,  for  the  most  part,  mentally 
deficient,  but  they  are  morally  weak,  largely  because 
a  lack  of  religious  training  has  deprived  them  of  a 
moral  code  upon  which  to  erect  the  superstructure  of 
character. 

We  are  at  last  rubbing  our  eyes  and  awakening  in 
America  to  the  fact  that  for  a  long  time  past  we  have 
been  permitting  certain  influences  to  keep  the  Bible 
from  having  its  due  place  as  a  moral  force  at  the  cen- 
ter of  our  educational  system.  For  that  mistake  we 
are  paying  a  tragic  price,  and  will  pay  more.  All  this 
*'tommy-rot"  about  the  Bible  being  a  secular  book  is 
due  either  to  illogical  reasoning  or  ungodly  propa- 
ganda. 

I  think  it  was  Humboldt  who  said  that  what  you 
would  have  in  the  state  you  must  first  put  into  the 
schools.  Surely  we  will  never  have  a  stronger,  deeper 
and  intense  respect  for  law  and  morality  until  we 
put  back  in  the  school  that  book  which  above  all  others 
engenders  respect  for  law  and  morality. 

Why  stand  in  open  mouthed  amazement  at  the  fre- 
quent revelation  of  immorality  among  the  students  of 
our  high  schools  and  colleges  today?  We  are  to  blame, 
for  we  have  been  neglecting  the  moral  development  of 
our  children,  a  very  essential  part  of  true  education. 


RAIDER    S,    GLENN    YOUNG  199 

The  reading  of  the  old  fashioned  ten  commandments 
each  day  in  the  class  rooms  of  American  schools  would 
result  in  a  better  America  tomorrow.  Hats  off  to  Ken- 
tucky and  Iowa  which  have  put  the  Bible  back  where 
it  belongs  in  Protestant  America. 

The  Fatal  Wide  Open  Door 

Race  intolerance  has  no  place  in  my  mind  or  heart, 
and  yet  I  would  build  a  much  narrower  door  into  that 
house  of  many  mansions  which  we  call  America.  The 
present  reign  of  lawlessness  has  vital  relationship  to 
the  fact  that  we  have  been  welcoming  immigrants  in 
numbers  far  out  of  proportion  to  our  ability  to  assimi- 
late them,  or  rather  their  ability  to  be  assimilated. 
During  the  last  fifteen  years  the  North  and  the  East 
and  the  West  have  been  inundated  by  a  flood  of  in- 
ferior peoples,  an  overwhelming  proportion  of  whom 
have  massed  themselves  in  the  cities  and  industrial 
centers.  The  United  States  of  America  contains  much 
less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  Anglo-Saxon  stock. 

Now  this  modern  tide  of  immigration  constitutes 
a  menace  in  that  its  mental  and  physical  qualities  are 
lowering  our  level  of  literacy  and  health.  Lacking  an 
inherent  capacity  for  American  citizenship,  with  the 
ideals  and  ideas  which  that  implies,  it  threatens  our 
most  beloved  institutions.  Having  no  deep  and  abid- 
ing respect  for  constituted  authority  in  their  hearts, 
they  strike  at  the  very  pillars  of  government.  Our 
failure  to  invite  and  welcome  to  our  shores  only  those 
immigrants  of  the  right  social  and  national  stock  has 
been  a  national  folly  of  costly  price. 

Like  Senator  Reed,  Junior  Senator  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  writer  heartilv  advocates  an  immigration 


200 LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

law  based  on  the  immigrant's  capacity  for  assimila- 
tion. If  a  large  percentage  of  the  British  and  Swedes, 
who  have  come  to  this  country,  have  become  American 
citizens,  then  give  them  a  high  quota,  say  seven  or 
eight  per  cent  (instead  of  the  present  three  per  cent). 
And  if  a  small  percentage  of  the  Poles,  Russians, 
Greeks  and  Italians  have  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  then  give  them  a  low  quota,  say  one 
per  cent  or  less. 

It  is  high  time  not  only  that  American  industries 
should  be  forbidden  to  exploit  Southern  Europe  for 
cheap  labor,  but  that  our  government  should  make 
narrow,  by  careful  discrimination,  the  gateway  into 
our  far  flung  commonwealth. 

Criminal  Failure  of  Criminal  Law 

Since  writing  the  last  paragraph  I  have  been  talk- 
ing with  Mr.  John  Gray,  the  very  efficient  and  trust- 
worthy sheriff  of  Champaign  County,  Illinois.  He  tells 
me  that  on  the  day  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  wonder- 
ful stadium  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  they  secured 
some  officers  from  Chicago  to  identify  and  look  after 
the  Chicago  professional  pickpockets  whom  they  ex- 
pected down  to  operate  among  the  great  crowds  who 
would  attend  the  grand  opening. 

They  did  all  that  was  expected  of  them,  as  a  result 
of  which  a  number  of  those  professional  gentlemen 
who  live  out  of  other  folks  pockets  were  rounded  up 
before  they  had  a  chance  to  begin  internal  operations, 
and  conducted  over  to  the  sheriff's  office,  where  they 
were  detained  until  the  big  affair  was  over. 

While  they  sat  there,  a  group  of  well  dressed 
affable  sort  of  fellows,  one  of  them  said : — 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  201 

"Sheriff,  I  have  something  to  tell  you;  do  you  care 
to  hear  it?" 

"Go  ahead",  replied  Mr.  Gray. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  that  we  fellows  have  a  lawyer 
in  Chicago,  and  that  w^e  report  to  him  every  day  at 
five  o'clock.  If  we  don't  report  at  that  hour  he  knows 
we  are  in  jail,  and  immediately  proceeds  to  get  us  out 
on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Mr.  Sheriff,  we  have 
never  been  fined  in  Chicago,  never  served  a  jail  sent- 
ence, and  I  think  we  make  a  good  deal  more  money  at 
our  business  than  you  do". 

How  deplorable  the  fact  that  America  has  become 
noted  the  world  over  for  the  weakness  and  failure  of 
its  criminal  law.  These  three  institutions  of  law, 
namely  trial  by  jury,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
the  right  of  appeal,  institutions  once  the  traditional 
safeguards  of  innocent  men  and  women,  are  now  far 
too  often  actual  accomplices  of  guilt.  Cases  are  on 
record  w^here  as  much  as  six  years  have  elapsed  be- 
tween the  apprehension  and  the  conviction  of  the 
guilty,  during  which  period  the  criminals  have  enjoyed 
complete  freedom  on  bail.  In  many  cases  the  law  vio- 
lators have  continued  to  prey  upon  the  social  body. 

Can  we  wonder  at  America's  unenviable  reputa- 
tion for  lynchings?  Were  we  greatly  amazed  at  the 
action  of  that  father  in  Chicago  a  few  weeks  ago. 
The  murderer  of  his  son  had  managed,  through  his 
attorneys,  to  secure  the  delayal  of  his  case  no  less  than 
nine  times.  The  infuriated  father  took  the  law  into 
his  own  hands  and  shot  the  slayer  of  his  son  to  death 
outside  the  door  of  the  court  room. 

Delays  and  miscarriages  in  justice  have  given 
great  encouragement  to  crime  in  America  during  the 


202 LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS    OF 

last  few  years,  and  the  conditions  we  now  behold  are 
a  strong  vindication  of  the  truth  contained  in  that 
somewhat  unfamiliar  book  which  says,  that  "Because 
sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speed- 
ily, therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  embold- 
ened to  do  evil".  (Ecc.  8/11) .  A  prompter  punishment 
of  law  violators  is  essential  to  a  respect  for  law  and 
a  fear  thereof. 

But  even  more  deplorable  than  the  delays  in  ad- 
ministration are  the  actual  miscarriages  of  justice. 
It  seems  that  men  and  women  can  commit  murder  in 
our  land,  knowing  that  their  chances  of  paying  the 
price  with  their  own  lives  are  comparatively  meager. 
They  know,  too,  that  so-called  ''life  imprisonment" 
seldom  means  life  in  these  days.  Not  only  so — money 
talks  in  America,  and  it  talks  very  winsomely  and 
persuasively  for  the  criminal  class,  the  result  being 
that  justice  is  often  thwarted.  Not  until  punishment 
in  America  is  commensurate  to  the  crime  committed, 
and  that  for  rich  and  poor  alike,  can  we  reasonably 
expect  a  deepened  respect  and  regard  for  law  among 
the  masses  throughout  our  republic.  There  are  in- 
dications that  men  of  character  and  caliber  are  ad- 
dressing themselves  to  this  tremendous  and  vital  prob- 
lem in  our  American  life,  and  in  that  fact  we  can 
find  considerable  comfort. 

Cori-upt  Politics  A  Big  Factor 

One  reason  why  British  criminal  law  functions  so 
much  better  than  ours  in  America  is  that  it  is  untram- 
meled  by  political  influences.  Laxity  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  in  this  and  of  other  states  is  largely  due 
to   corrupt  politics.      The   influence   of   unprincipled 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 203 

politicians  is  not  usually  thrown  on  the  side  of  law  en- 
forcement. In  Williamson  County,  as  in  Cook  County, 
their  influence  is  acting  every  day  as  a  shield  and  en- 
couragement to  crime.  The  use  of  the  lawless  and 
criminal  class  at  election  time  by  corrupt  politicians 
must  be  paid  for,  and  it  is  paid  for,  too  often  paid  for 
by  the  agencies  of  law  enforcement,  bringing  political 
pressure  to  bear  upon  officers  of  the  law  in  an  effort 
to  prevent  the  punishment  of  criminals.  That  this  un- 
godly influence  has  prevented  very  effectively  none 
can  question.  May  the  day  hasten  when  we  shall  have 
less  attention  and  enthusiasm  for  the  party  label,  and 
an  increased  concern  and  enthusiasm  for  the  character 
of  the  men  who  are  candidates  for  office,  whether  it 
be  in  municipal,  state  or  national  government. 

Quit  Crying  for  the  Criminal 

Not  far  from  where  I  am  now  sitting  a  man  shot 
a  young  husband  down  without  a  moment's  warning. 
The  murderer  pleaded  guilty  and  was  given  a  sentence 
of  from  one  year  to  life.  For  a  few  weeks  there  were 
sobs  for  the  wife  who  had  been  ruthlessly  robbed  of 
her  partner.  Recently,  however,  although  the  slayer 
has  spent  less  than  two  years  behind  prison  walls, 
many  have  been  crying  for  the  criminal,  and  circulat- 
ing a  petition  for  his  release.  While  it  afforded  me  no 
pleasure,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  society  to  sign  a  counter 
petition  urging  that  he  be  kept  where  he  belongs  and 
where  society  has  a  right  to  demand  he  shall  remain, 
at  least  until  a  sentence  salutary  in  its  influence,  and 
somewhat  in  harmony  with  the  nature  and  degree  of 
the  crime  committed,  has  been  served. 

The  weak  sentimentality  which  weeps  for  the  vic- 
tim until  the  criminal  is  caught,  and  then  transfers 


204  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

sympathetic  interest  to  him,  is  a  menace  to  law  en- 
forcement, and  an  encouragement  to  crime. 

Houses  Versus  Homes 

Many  so-called  homes  are  simply  boarding  houses 
where  the  future  citizens  of  America  eat  and  sleep. 
That  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  law  violators  come 
from  real  homes  is  an  established  fact  that  should 
make  us  do  some  serious  thinking.  Is  the  lawlessness 
which  we  so  deeply  deplore  and  lament  actually  being 
brewed  in  the  place  which  we  call  home?  We  have 
thought  of  it  as  finding  its  source  in  the  school,  the 
street,  the  show-house,  and  the  social  sediment  of  our 
day,  and  have  forgotten  perhaps  that  the  American 
home  may  be  the  most  fertile  breeding  place  for  the 
irreverent  and  lawless  spirit. 

A  noted  criminal  lawyer  voiced  the  conviction  of 
many  recently  when  he  declared  that,  "The  making  of 
homes  today  is  by  far  the  most  important  question  be- 
fore the  country",  and  that  "a  return  to  the  home 
movement  would  do  away  with  many  of  the  problems 
of  juvenile  delinquency  and  juvenile  crime". 

We  may  not  want  the  old-fashioned  home  back  in 
its  entirety,  but  there  were  certainly  some  things  back 
there  in  that  old  home  which  we  need  badly  today,  and 
without  which  no  home  can  be  a  real  asset  to  the  com- 
munity and  national  life. 

First,  we  need  love  in  the  home.  That  involves 
comradeship  between  husband  and  wife,  and  the  com- 
panionship of  parent  and  child.  It  means  a  sympa- 
thetic interest  in  the  things  which  interest  the  child, 
a  human  understanding  of  his  life  and  a  kindly,  fair 
dealing  with  him  in  all  his  experiences. 


RAIDER    S.    GLEKK    YOUNG  205 

Second,  we  need  discipline  in  the  home.  The  rod, 
administered  by  a  wise  hand  and  a  loving-  heart,  has 
never  been  a  detriment  to  any  boy  or  girl  if  the  cause 
was  just.  The  use  of  ''Old  Hickory"  in  the  home  would 
have  saved  many  a  lad  from  becoming  a  social  liability. 
Undisciplined  children  in  American  homes  will  scarcely 
respect  delegated  authority  in  the  school  or  the  state. 

Finally,  we  need  instruction  in  the  home.  And  by 
that  I  do  not  simply  mean  instruction  regarding  the 
functions  of  the  body,  or  instruction  regarding  mor- 
ality and  citizenship.  I  mean  that  there  should  be 
definite  religious  instruction  in  the  great  facts  of 
Divine  revelation,  and  the  matchless  principles  enunci- 
ated by  Him  who  came  to  show  men  how  to  live. 
There  is  no  substitute  for  a  truly  religious  home, 
where  religion  is  taught  by  precept  and  example.  The 
boy  or  girl  who  goes  out  into  life  without  such  a  home 
behind  them,  goes  out  under  a  great  handicap.  It  is 
in  such  homes  that  there  is  instilled  into  mind  and 
heart  a  healthy  respect  for  authority,  lacking  which 
good  citizenship  is  impossible.  Behind  many  a  gun- 
man, gambler,  libertine  and  scarlet  sister,  lies  the 
pathetic  and  tragic  failure  of  parents  to  establish  a 
home. 

I  have  endeavored  to  swing  before  the  vision  of  my 
readers  some  of  the  basic  causes  of  the  lawlessness 
which  confronts  not  only  America  but  the  world  of 
today.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  the  case  diagnosed, 
it  must  be  treated.  Sometimes  drastic  measures  are 
necessary  if  a  cure  is  to  be  effected,  and  the  patient 
saved.  If  we  love  America  we  will  not  rest  on  the 
couch  of  indifference,  but  will  cooperate  sympathetic- 
ally, and  untiringly  with  all  those  who  are  endeavoring 


206  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

to  save  her  from  the  insidious  enemies  which  infest 
her  and  threaten  to  destroy.  To  fight  the  physician 
who  prescribes  medicines  which  make  for  health  and 
vigor,  or  who  on  occasion  must  use  the  lance  or  the 
scalpel,  must  surely  be  the  result  of  ignorance,  folly, 
or  a  lack  of  love  for  the  patient — AMERICA. 

KLAN  PRINCIPLES  ARE  AMERICAN 
AND  CHRISTIAN 

The  teachings  and  attitude  of  an  organization  is 
one  thing  and  those  of  individuals  within  that  organi- 
zation quite  another.  They  should  be  in  absolute  har- 
mony, but  we  frequently  find  them  differing,  and  in 
consequence  the  organization  comes  in  for  criticism 
and  abuse  through  its  ignorant  or  inconsistent  repre- 
sentative. 

In  writing  these  concluding  lines  I  am  setting  down 
that  for  which  the  organization  actually  stands,  and 
its  attitude  toward  certain  important  problems  of 
American  life. 

First,  the  tenets  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  are  essen- 
tially Christian.  This  fact  is  well  set  forth  in  the 
words  of  a  Pennsylvania  member  of  the  order,  ad- 
dressed to  a  church  congregation  in  that  state  and 
accompanied  with  a  substantial  offering  toward  the 
work  there  being  carried  on: — 

''We,  the  Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  magnify  the 
Bible  as  a  basis  for  our  constitution,  the  foundation 
of  our  government,  the  source  of  our  laws,  the  sheet 
anchor  of  our  liberties,  the  most  particular  guide  of 
right  living,  and  the  source  of  all  true  wisdom.  We 
honor  the  Christ  as  the  Klansman's  only  criterion  of 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOUXG  207 

character,  and  we  seek  at  His  hands  that  cleansing 
from  sin  and  impurity  which  only  He  can  give." 

Second,  the  tenets  of  Klanism  are  thoroughly 
American.  Klansmen  stand  for  the  American  flag 
against  enemies  without  and  within.  They  emphasize 
devotion  to  the  American  flag  as  an  ensign  of  Ameri- 
can nationality  and  the  emblem  of  national  honor. 

They  teach  that  a  citizen's  first  and  highest  allegi- 
ance (beneath  that  due  his  God)  is  to  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  no  other  government, 
no  king,  no  potentate  or  powers  of  any  kind,  should 
share  in  that  allegiance.  They  stand  for  white 
supremacy,  maintaining  that  purity  of  the  white  blood 
must  be  maintained,  that  only  as  we  maintain  white 
supremacy  can  we  be  faithful  to  the  foundation  princi- 
ples with  which  our  forefathers  cemented  the  founda- 
tions of  our  national  life. 

The  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  for  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
the  establishment  of  order.  The  oath  which  the  Klans- 
man  takes  requires  this  of  him:  ''I  furthermore,  in 
the  presence  of  God  and  man,  solemnly  pledge,  promise 
and  swear  that  I  will  at  all  times,  in  all  places  and  in 
all  ways,  help,  aid  and  assist  the  constituted  authori- 
ties of  the  law  in  the  proper  performance  of  their 
legal  duties,  so  help  me  God.    Amen". 

Klansmen  believe  that  the  American  home  is  the 
fountain  head  of  American  life,  and  that  if  the  nation 
is  to  endure,  the  fountain  must  be  kept  clean.  They 
stand  for  fidelity  in  wedlock,  scrupulous  purity  in  the 
marriage  covenant,  and  for  a  closed  door  against  every 
form  of  sex  impurity.  They  are  unalterably  opposed 
to  social  vice  and  the  intermingling  of  different  races 
in  sex  relationship. 


208  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


There  was  a  time  when  the  writer  joined  in  the 
charge  of  intolerance  against  the  Klan.  Like  many 
others  I  regarded  it  as  religiously  and  racially  intoler- 
ant. I  have  learned  that  ignorance  of  its  nature, 
prejudice  and  calumny  are  largely  responsible  for  this 
false  view. 

No  true  Klansman  is  opposed  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic as  an  individual.  True  he  cannot  join  the  Klan, 
even  if  he  would,  but  neither  can  a  Protestant  join  the 
Knights  of  Columbus  if  he  so  desired.  The  Klansman 
accords  to  every  individual  Catholic  the  right  to  wor- 
ship God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  con- 
science. He  would  not  rob  him  of  any  constitutional 
right  which  he  enjoys.  But  the  domination  of  America 
by  Rome  as  a  religious-political  power  is  another 
matter.  Against  that  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  is  unalterably 
opposed,  and  opposed  because  they  know  what  that  has 
meant  in  every  European  country  where  Rome  has 
held  sway;  and  they  are  determined  that  there  shall 
never  be  established  in  America  a  union  between 
church  and  state,  that  America  shall  remain  a  Pro- 
testant nation,  and  that  the  papal  burdens  which  our 
forefathers  fled  to  America  to  escape  shall  never  en- 
thrall, limit  and  weigh  dowTi  America's  free  sons  and 
daughters.  They  do  not  believe  that  those  who  owe 
their  first  allegiance  to  a  foreign  potentate  can  well 
be  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  American 
government. 

Again,  I  have  come  to  know  that  no  true  Klansman 
holds  out  against  the  Jew,  even  though  he  is  barred 
from  the  Klan  organization.  (No  Gentile  society 
questions  the  prerogative  of  a  Jewish  organization  to 
exclude  all  others  but  Jews.)     But,  recognizing  as  he 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  209 

does  the  splendid  contribution  which  the  Jew  has  made 
to  civilization,  recognizing  the  fine  qualities  of  the 
Jewish  mind  and  character,  he  likewise  recognizes  the 
fact  that  the  Jew  is,  and  ever  has  been,  segregative  in 
religion,  customs  and  life,  that  he  is  unassimilable, 
and  that  because  the  Jew  is  a  separate  people,  he  can- 
not in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  have  a  part  in  a 
movement  dedicated  to  the  unification  of  the  varied 
strains  of  American  life  into  compact  nationhood. 
That  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  Klan  would 
deny  him  a  single  right,  or  rob  him  of  that  haven  of 
rest  which  he  has  found  in  America  as  nowhere  else 
in  the  world.  All  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  demands  of  the 
Jew  is  that  he,  with  them,  shall  be  true  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States. 

And  for  the  colored  race,  which  many  suppose 
Klansmen  secretly  or  openly  hate,  the  Klan  actually 
holds  sympathy  rather  than  antipathy.  But  let  me 
ask  this  question — can  there  not  exist  sympathy  and 
good  will  and  helpfulness  without  willingness  to  have 
him  seek  to  assume  the  burdens  of  modern  govern- 
ment? Was  it  hatred  of  the  Chinese  and  the  Japs 
which  induced  the  American  government  to  exclude 
them  from  American  life?  I  think  not,  but  rather 
because  it  was  in  the  best  interests  of  America  to 
exclude  non-assimilable  peoples.  The  assimilation  of 
the  negro  race  is  unthinkable  and  entirely  outside  of 
the  Divine  plan.  Social  equality  with  the  white  would 
neither  be  in  the  interest  of  the  negro  or  the  white, 
and  white  supremacy  in  American  life  is  imperative 
for  the  well  being  of  both.  The  true  Klansman  says, 
''promote  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  negro,  but 
the  reins  of  government  in  America  must  be  kept  in 


210  LIFE     AX  D     EXPLOITS     OF 

hands  of  the  white  race.     To  do  otherwise  would  be 
suicidal  to  the  life  of  the  American  republic." 

Klan  Oath  Explained 

The  oath  of  this  national  patriotic  organization  has 
been  well  explained  in  recent  time  by  Imperial  Wizard, 
Dr.  H.  W.  Evans,  who  says: — 

**It  is  as  categoric  and  solemn  as  the  English 
language  can  make  it.  It  enjoins  obedience  to  the 
order's  constitution,  laws,  regulations,  usages  and  re- 
quirements, and  prescribes  the  strictest  secrecy  re- 
garding its  internal  affairs.  Each  member  swears  he 
'never  will  recommend  for  membership  any  person 
whose  mind  is  unsound,  whose  reputation  is  bad, 
whose  character  is  doubtful,  or  whose  loyalty  to  the 
United  States  of  America  is  in  any  way  questionable.' 
Selfishness  in  every  form  is  interdicted.  Social  loyalty 
is  elevated  above  personal  friendship,  blood  relation- 
ship, family  interest  and  every  other  relatively  narrow 
tie.  Klansmanship  is  stringently  enjoined,  but  only 
*in  all  things  honorable'.  To  the  government  of  the 
United  States  and  to  the  governments  of  the  states  of 
the  union  we  'sacredly  swear  unqualified  allegiance* 
pledging  our  property,  our  votes,  our  honor  and  our 
lives.  Free  education,  free  speech,  free  press,  separa- 
tion of  church  and  state,  white  supremacy,  just  laws, 
the  pursuit  of  happiness — all  these  each  Klansman 
swears  to  seal  with  his  blood,  'be  Thou  my  witness 
Almighty  God'  ". 

Is  that  not  good  Americanism?  Is  that  not 
Christian  ?  I  am  persuaded  it  is,  and  that  the  practice 
of  such  tenets  of  faith  will  make  for  a  stronger,  better, 
richer  American  life. 


RAIDER    S .    GLENN    YOUNG  211 

There  are  good  and  great  men  in  American  life 
today,  so  influenced  by  political  interests  that  they 
will  not  declare  themselves  on  the  side  of  this  great 
American  organization,  and  yet  they  stand  for  the 
very  things  for  which  it  stands.  And  what  decent 
American  citizen  could  be  against  them?  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  the  bootlegger,  the  gambler,  the  seducer 
of  womanhood,  the  hi-j  acker  and  the  denkeeper  will 
be  against  them,  as  they  are.  It  occasions  no  surprise 
that  corrupt  officials,  criminals  and  crooks,  bolshevists 
and  anarchists,  demagogues  and  political  hypocrites, 
in  a  word,  that  all  whose  lives  and  activities  are  sub- 
versive to  that  which  is  best  in  the  life  of  America 
are  against  the  Klan,  but  to  find  Protestant  whites, 
intelligent,  moral,  patriotic,  idealistic  and  practical, 
opposed  to  it  must  surely  be  due  to  political  or  mone- 
tary interests,  or  lack  of  knowledge  regarding  that  for 
which  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  actually  stands. 

There  are  thousands  of  potential  Klansmen  in 
America,  and  it  is  safe  to  predict,  especially  in  light 
of  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  past  months,  that  a 
great  host  of  these  potentials  will  become  actuals 
when  knowledge  is  instrumental  in  removing  that 
prejudice  which  an  active  propaganda  has  succeeded 
in  insinuating. 

AMERICA  THE  BEAUTIFUL 

0  beautiful  for  spacious  skies, 

For  amber  waves  of  grain. 

For  purple  mountain  majesties. 

Above  the  fruited  plain, 

America,  America,  God  shed  His  grace  on  thee. 

And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood 


212  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

THE  ONSET 

Sound  an  alarm!     The  foe  is  come! 

I  hear  the  tramp — the  neigh — the  hum, 
The  cry,  and  the  blow  of  his  daring  drum; 

Hurrah ! 

Sound;  the  blast  of  our  trumpet  blown 
Shall  carry  dismay  into  hearts  of  ctone; 

What!     Shall  we  shake  at  our  foe  unknown? 
Hurrah!  Hurrah! 

Have  we  not  sinews  as  strong  as  they? 

Have  we  not  hearts  that  ne'er  give  way? 
Have  we  not  God  on  our  side  today? 

Hurrah ! 


WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A  STATE? 

What  constitutes  a  state? 
Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound. 

Thick  wall  or  moated  gate. 
Nor  cities  proud  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned ; 

Not  bays  and  broad  armed  ports, 
Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride; 

Not  starred  and  spangled  courts. 
Where  low-browed  baseness  wafts  perfume  in  pride. 

No: — men,  high  minded  men. 
With  powers  as  far  above  dumb  brutes  endued 

In  forest,  brake  or  den. 
As  beasts  excel  cold  rocks  and  brambles  rude; 

Men  who  their  duties  know, 
But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing  dare  maintain. 

These  constitute  a  state. 


RAiDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  213 


THE  LAST  CHAPTER 

Closing  Incidents  in  the  Life  of  S.  Glenn  Young, 

Who  Met  Death  in  Herrin,  Illinois, 

on  January  2U,  1925. 

When  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  book  of  chron- 
icles of  the  life  of  S.  Glenn  Young  were  written,  there 
was  no  indication  that  the  principal  of  the  sketch 
would  not  long  live  and  long  continue  to  be  a  terror  to 
evil-doers.  There  was  no  thought  in  the  mind  of  S. 
Glenn  Young,  when  he  related  such  details  of  his  ex- 
periences as  an  officer  of  the  law  that  delineated  his 
most  notable  achievements,  that  this  book  of  memoirs 
would  be  other  than  a  medium  of  satisfying  the  large 
public  curiosity  anent  his  career.  His  biographer  had 
no  suspicion  that  this  work,  intended  as  it  was,  would 
be  transformed  into  a  historical  document,  the  last 
chapters  of  which  were  to  cover  the  last  earthly  acts 
of  the  subject  himself.  This  author,  however,  must 
have  experienced  a  slight  premonition  when,  in  near- 
ing  the  conclusion  of  his  work  as  it  was  then  con- 
stituted, he  predicted  that  the  duty  of  recording  the 
further  exploits  of  his  friend  would  probably  fall  to 
others.    And  so  it  has. 

This  new  writer  approaches  the  task  with  not  only 
the  realization  of  inability  to  do  justice  to  the  subject, 
but  with  a  sadness  whose  depths  cannot  be  plumbed 
at  the  ruthless  sacrifice  it  seemed  was  necessary,  and 
the  tragic  end  which  came  to  S.  Glenn  Young  in  the 
fullness  of  his  powers  and  the  height  of  his  usefulness. 
As  the  whole  world  knows,  the  world  that  is  in  touch 


214  LIFE     A  X  D     EXPLOITS     OF 


with  current  events,  S.  Glenn  Young  is  no  more.  His 
brief  day  has  ended,  and  the  curtain  of  eternal  black- 
ness has  shut  from  view  of  mortals  and  loved  ones 
his  features  and  form.  The  only  consolation  is,  that 
by  his  last  act  he  completed  his  mission  in  Williamson 
County.  His  sacrifice  was  not  in  vain.  His  most  en- 
during monument  will  be  that  invisible  shaft  reared 
in  this  city  of  Herrin  and  this  county  of  Williamson 
for  the  supreme  sacrifice  he  was  called  upon  to^  deliver 
that  his  task  might  be  finally  consumated. 

Doubtless  there  are  those  who  will  feel  a  sense 
of  disappointment  as  they  read  the  pages  of  this 
volume.  They  gathered  their  impressions  of  the  man, 
and  their  conception  of  his  deeds  from  the  public 
press,  with  its  sensationalism  and  unprincipled 
methods  of  twisting  facts  to  suit  their  unhallowed  ends 
of  furnishing  lurid  and  morbid  tales  to  a  people  who 
are  never  surfeited  with  such  things.  They  naturally 
will  have  expected  this  volume  to  drip  blood  from 
every  paragraph,  written  along  the  lines  of  the  old- 
time  detective  tales  or  in  the  fashion  of  reputed  ac- 
counts of  the  lives  of  sensational  criminals,  with  excit- 
ing adventures  cloaked  in  a  veil  of  mystery,  imaginary 
details  of  battles  to  the  death  against  bulldozing  "bad 
men"  determined  to  defy  the  law  to  the  last  breath 
and  never  to  be  taken  alive  as  prisoners,  with  fair 
women  alwaj^s  somehow  mixed  up  in  the  plots,  and 
the  hero  finally  emerging  from  a  mystic  maze  with  his 
enemies  all  under  his  iron  heel  and  the  heroine  nestling 
closel}^  in  his  manly  arms. 

But  these  memoirs  are  only  the  prosaic  records  of 
a  man  who  had  a  mission,  as  surely  as  any  man  who 
has  passed  over  the  pages  of  history  before  him,  who 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 215 

faithfully  and  devotedly  carried  out  that  mission  and 
died  for  its  sake.  It  is  not  alone  that,  but  it  is  a  de- 
fense of  a  man  who  was  the  most  villified  and  the  most 
misrepresented  of  any  man  of  modern  times  in  the 
last  months  of  his  life.  It  is  an  attempt  to  convey 
to  an  indifferent  and  unappreciative  peoples  the  right 
view  of  S.  Glenn  Young,  as  a  man  and  as  a  public 
servant,  who  counted  that  day  lost  whose  descending 
sun  had  not  seen  some  deed  of  his  adding  to  the  sum 
total  of  human  accomplishment.  And,  finally,  it  is  a 
justification  of  the  united  uprising  of  the  outraged 
citizens  of  Williamson  County,  Illinois,  and  their  cru- 
sade for  morality  and  better  citizenship. 

Not  that  S.  Glenn  Young  did  not  live  through 
nearly  a  score  of  years  of  a  career  that  daily  exposed 
him  to  deadly  dangers,  nor  that  his  experiences  as  an 
official  were  not  thrilling,  and  that  his  final  end  v\^as 
not  sensational  and  impressive  to  those  who  merely 
read  of  and  never  come  in  contact  with  the  phase  of 
life  this  man  rubbed  against  constantly  and  always  as 
its  most  feared  opponent  and  to  many  its  fatal 
Nemesis.  Not  that.  Mainly  this  volume  is  lacking  in 
all  these  essentials  craved  by  the  readers  of  novel  and 
yellow  press  because  only  one  man  could  actually  give 
the  details  of  the  exploits  of  S.  Glenn  Young,  and  that 
man  was  S.  Glenn  Young  himself.    He  w^ould  not. 

With  this  prelude  and  what  is  to  follow  the  melo- 
dramatic incidents  of  the  night  of  Saturday,  January 
24,  1925,  in  Herrin,  Illinois,  are  here  to  be  set  out  in 
such  detail  as  one  not  directly  implicated  can  supply, 
lacking  still  that  luridness  and  cheapening  touch  that 
are  altogether  missing  in  preceding  chapters.  It  was 
fitting  that  S.  Glenn  Young  should  end  his  career  in 


216  LIFE     AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

Williamson  County,  for  it  was  here  that  he  performed 
his  greatest  service  to  mankind.  It  was  sad,  it  was 
tragic,  it  leaves  a  train  of  consequences  in  its  wake 
that  only  time  will  fully  reveal,  a  frail  little  woman 
plunged  into  eternal  blindness  through  her  love  and 
loyalty,  and  an  infant  son  to  grow  up  without  the 
guiding  hand  and  support  of  a  loving  father.  Yet, 
withal,  it  was  appropriate,  and  somehow  fits  into  the 
picture  of  the  life  of  S.  Glenn  Young  as  his  real  friends 
viewed  it  and  as  this  volume  is  intended  to  convey  to 
others.  It  is  a  story  of  unselfishness  and  devotion  to 
plain  duty,  with  no  touch  of  mercenary  ambitions  pol- 
luting its  pellucid  stream,  that  has  but  few  parallels 
in  American  existence. 

On  the  surface,  on  this  bright  winter  day  of  late 
January,  1925,  the  struggle  of  right  against  wTong 
in  Williamson  County  was  nearing  the  end,  with  the 
forces  of  right  in  the  ascendant.  With  the  election  of 
conscientious  county  officials  in  the  November  polling, 
and  especially  of  a  prosecuting  attorney  who  was  and 
is  incorruptible,  it  was  felt  that  great  progress  had 
been  made.  Criminals  no  longer  had  the  protection 
of  the  prosecutor's  office  as  well  as  that  of  the  sheriff 
and  his  subordinates.  Innocent  men  would  no  longer 
be  dragged  into  court  and  forced  to  face  unwarranted 
charges  and  provide  bail  to  the  last  dollar  of  the  legal 
limit  upon  multiplied  counts  of  fraudulent  indictments. 
In  the  membership  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors, 
who  possess  the  only  regulatory  powers  so  far  as  the 
sheriff  of  an  Illinois  county  is  concerned,  there  were 
at  least  twenty  honorable  citizens  who  could  be  de- 
pended upon  to  do  right  at  all  times.  There  had  been 
an  exodus  of  criminals,  both  great  and  small,  until 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 217 

but  few  remained  to  flaunt  the  law  and  scorn  the 
courts.  Dives  of  all  kinds  were  either  closed  or  their 
business  was  being  conducted  along  legitimate  lines 
and  their  patronage  reduced  to  a  point  where  it  was 
only  a  matter  of  time  until  the  owners  would  be  forced 
to  close  their  doors.  Of  the  notorious  road  houses  of 
the  county  only  charred  embers  and  blackened  ashes 
marked  their  sites.  Abandoned  women,  and  their 
more  degraded  paramours,  had  been  driven  from  the 
county  before  the  scourge  of  public  opinion.  Open 
gambling  was  no  longer  tolerated,  drunkenness  was 
at  its  lowest  ebb  in  all  the  years  of  the  history  of  Wil- 
liamson County.  Crime  of  all  sorts  was  gradually  de- 
clining, and  the  outlook  was  growing  brighter  day 
by  day. 

Sheriff  George  Galligan  was  immured  in  his  forti- 
fied county  jail  at  Marion,  surrounded  it  is  true  by 
some  of  the  worst  of  the  men  whom  he  had  been  lead- 
ing in  the  w^ar  of  retaliation  against  the  forces  of  law 
and  order,  these  criminals  deputized  as  sheriffs  and 
carrying  the  authority  of  the  State  of  Illinois  insofar 
as  he  had  the  power  to  confer  it.  But  Galligan  dared 
not  himself  instigate  any  further  reprisals,  and  re- 
mained within  easy  reach  of  his  jail  fort  and  his 
illegally  enlisted  small  army  of  gunmen. 

Chief  of  these  deputies  was  Ora  Thomas  of  Herrin, 
reputed  Chief  Ranger  of  the  Knights  of  the  Flaming 
Circle,  known  to  be  implicated  in  the  assassination  of 
Constable  Caesar  Cagle  and  in  the  massacre  at  the 
John  Smith  garage  in  Herrin.  Galligan  had  violated 
the  compromise  agreement  he  entered  into  with  the 
"Committee  of  One  Hundred"  neutrals  when  his  force 
of  deputies  was  reorganized,  discharging  the  men  ap- 


218 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

pointed  at  that  time  and  naming  as  their  successors 
Ora  Thomas  and  others.  Thomas  was  one  of  the  vic- 
tims of  the  first  raids  engineered  by  S.  Glenn  Young. 
He  had  been  found  guilty  of  violation  of  the  Volstead 
act  and  sentenced  to  a  term  of  four  months,  being 
incarcerated  in  the  county  jail  of  Edgar  County,  at 
Paris,  111.  It  was  immediately  after  the  release  of 
Thomas  and  his  return  to  Williamson  County  that 
Galligan  made  him  chief  of  his  staff  of  deputy  sheriffs. 
Thomas  was  not  recognized  as  an  officer  by  the  county 
board  of  supervisors,  and  his  salary  was  never  granted 
by  the  board,  but  he  continued  to  serve  in  that  capacity 
so  long  as  he  lived. 

Ora  Thomas  in  the  beginning  was  a  coal  miner. 
Above  the  average  in  intelligence  of  men  of  his  calling, 
but  without  sufficient  education  and  lacking  other 
necessary  qualities  to  elevate  himself,  Thomas  leaned 
to  radicalism.  His  discontent  caused  him  to  turn  to 
Socialism  as  the  lever  for  the  uplift  of  the  working 
classes,  and  particularly  himself,  and  his  study  or 
superficial  consideration  of  the  subject  grew  to  such 
an  extent  that  he  was  converted  into  a  radical  even 
among  radicals.  At  one  period  in  the  development 
of  this  man  his  agitation  and  continual  haranguing 
of  men  employed  in  mines  where  he  worked  were  so 
marked  that  he  was  unpopular  with  the  bosses  and 
found  difficulty  in  securing  employment.  He  was  ac- 
tive at  meetings  of  local  unions  of  miners,  and  ac- 
quired considerable  ability  as  a  rough  and  ready  de- 
bater upon  topics  allied  with  his  beliefs. 

From  this  point,  Thomas  began  to  drift  into  local 
politics.  He  had  built  up  a  following  of  a  kind,  and 
this  bait  is  always  alluring  to  the  vigilant  politicians 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 219 

of  every  community,  who  prefer  to  have  their  voting 
strength  in  blocks  under  control  of  their  henchmen. 
In  Herrin  the  dominant  party  v^as  the  Union  Labor 
party.  In  county  politics  the  machine  of  the  Republi- 
can party  v^as  supreme,  but  in  Herrin  the  local  poli- 
ticians were  permitted  to  collect  their  spoils  under  a 
title  that  allured  the  adherents  of  organized  labor  and 
assured  their  leaders  of  a  division  of  county  as  well  as 
home  patronage.  Herrin  is  as  nearly  one  hundred  per 
cent  union  as  it  is  possible  for  any  community  to  be, 
so  this  accounts  for  the  tolerance  of  the  politicians. 

Saloons  had  never  closed  in  Herrin.  Their  pro- 
prietors merely  took  down  their  signs  and  instead  of 
paying  licenses  paid  for  privileges.  Marion,  the  county 
seat,  was  reasonably  free  from  commercialized  vice, 
but  Herrin  and  other  cities  of  the  county,  as  well  as 
the  score  of  mining  camps  without  government  other 
than  township  organizations,  were  fertile  fields  for 
exploitation.  The  city  of  Herrin  was  in  the  grip  of 
elements  concerned  solely  in  the  perpetuation  of  graft 
for  their  own  profit. 

Prior  to  the  revolt  of  the  good  and  decent  people 
of  Herrin  and  other  communities,  and  the  coming  of 
S.  Glenn  Young,  the  city  was  full  of  dives  of  various 
sorts.  Liquor  was  dispensed  openly  over  the  bars  at 
post-war  prices,  bawdy  houses  flaunted  their  shame 
on  important  thoroughfares,  gambling  was  unmolested 
and  gamblers  battened  on  the  earnings  of  hardwork- 
ing miners  and  others. 

When  Thomas  began  to  acquire  political  sway  over 
his  followers  he  grew  in  importance  to  the  men  who 
controlled  the  various  forms  of  illicit  traffic.     If  they 


220  LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

began  to  use  him,  he  also  began  to  use  them,  and  fin- 
ally he  fell  a  not  unwilling  victim  to  the  lure  of  large 
gains  at  a  minimum  of  exertion.  There  are  no  tales 
of  infidelity  on  the  record  of  Ora  Thomas.  He  was  not 
degraded,  it  would  seem.  His  wife  and  children  did 
not  suffer  from  his  departure  from  the  paths  of  virtue, 
and  he  did  not  lose  the  esteem  of  a  large  part  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  His  early  discontent  with  his  lot,  his 
inability  to  raise  himself  to  the  conditions  of  affluence 
and  prosperity  that  he  thought  was  his  inherent  right, 
set  his  feet  on  the  wrong  path,  and  there  he  walked 
unto  the  end.  Yet  at  that  end  he  had  not  profited,  for 
he  died  a  poor  man  and  left  his  family  to  fend  for 
themselves  aside  from  such  aid  as  friends  will  be 
moved  to  proffer. 

That  is  the  setting.  That  is  the  background.  Here 
were  two  men,  similar  in  stature  and  physique,  for 
both  were  less  than  the  average  in  height  and  weight. 
Both  were  natural  leaders,  both  were  animated  by 
motives  that  gripped  their  whole  being,  and  they  were 
diametrically  opposed  to  each  other.  The  plot  of  the 
last  act  in  this  thrilling  drama  runs  like  a  bright 
thread  through  the  somber  woof  of  this  chronicle  of 
the  life  of  S.  Glenn  Young,  and  were  the  life  of  Ora 
Thomas  to  be  set  forth  in  same  fashion,  that  same 
bright  thread  would  be  visible  through  its  pattern  and 
against  its  sin-colored  background  until  they  ran  to- 
gether and  broke  off  sharply  when  the  looms  of  their 
lives  became  entangled  and  the  machines  weaving 
both  were  rendered  hopeless  ruins. 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  intent  upon  only  one  thing — 
his  every  word  and  every  act  were  the  result  of  the 
one  thing  that  motivated  and  regulated  and  controlled 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  221 

his  being.  His  fetish  was  law  observance  and  his  voca- 
tion was  enforcement  of  observance.  It  was  his  form 
of  patriotism,  his  expression  of  loyalty,  his  contribu- 
tion to  the  general  welfare.  It  was  the  salt  of  his 
life,  the  very  breath  of  his  existence.  It  flavored  the 
days  of  his  youth,  it  caused  him  to  desert  the  smooth 
path  of  the  practitioner  of  medicine  and  follow  the 
rugged  and  faintly  marked  trails  where  ran  the  outlaw 
and  his  kind.  It  was  a  profession  to  him,  worth  all 
its  hardships  and  travail,  the  most  necessary  of  all 
the  inexact  sciences,  the  most  useful,  and  it  should  be 
the  most  appreciated  to  all  as  it  was  in  his  eyes. 
Without  law  there  can  be  no  government;  without 
government  there  can  be  no  civilization.  Those  were 
his  views  as  he  held  and  lived  them. 

Only  one  thing  ever  angered  S.  Glenn  Young.  The 
ordinary  irritations  of  life  did  not  bother  him,  he  was 
tolerant  in  all  his  views,  liberal  in  his  beliefs,  and  a 
firm  believer  in  the  existence  of  a  Creator  and  All- 
Wise  Providence.  He  retained  no  racial  prejudices, 
he  warmed  no  religious  hatreds  in  his  bosom.  He  was 
a  cosmopolitan — a  citizen  of  the  higher  world,  al- 
though a  frequenter  of  the  underworld  in  his  unrelent- 
ing pursuit  of  criminals  and  his  undeviating  policy  of 
prevention  of  law  violations.  He  was  calm  in  moments 
of  crisis,  his  judgment  was  quick  and  almost  infallible, 
brain  and  body  coordinated  to  an  unusual  degree,  and 
his  equanimity  was  unusual.  Yet  let  any  man,  friend 
or  foe,  show  himself  contemptuous  of  restraint  or  lax 
in  respect  to  the  constituted  laws,  and  S.  Glenn  Young 
was  aroused.  That  is  the  only  thing  that  disturbed 
him.  His  ordinarily  low  and  suave  voice  became  harsh 
and  strident,  his  whole  attitude  was  transfigured,  and 


222  LIFE    AND    EXPLOITS     OF 


the  man  became  a  machine  driven  by  the  motive  power 
that  alone  could  move  him  at  top  speed. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of 
January,  in  the  city  of  Herrin,  that  Glenn  Young 
and  Ora  Thomas  with  their  virile  natures  came  to- 
gether, their  opposing  minds  rocked  from  the  collision, 
there  were  bursts  of  noise  and  flashes  of  fire,  and 
within  the  brief  space  of  thirty  seconds  the  issue  was 
decided.  When  the  smoke  cleared  away  after  another 
brief  instant  these  two  and  two  more  men  were 
stretched  on  the  floor  of  the  corner  cigar  store  where 
the  encounter  was  staged,  three  dead  and  weltering 
in  their  own  life  blood,  and  only  Ora  Thomas  gasping 
out  his  last  shortened  breaths  as  life  also  slowly  de- 
parted from  him. 

It  would  require  another  volume  the  size  of  this  to 
adequately  analyze  and  set  down  all  the  incidents  that 
led  up  to  this  greatest  tragedy  Southern  Illinois  ever 
knew.  It  would  take  months  to  trace  the  half-hidden 
details  of  plot  and  counter-plot  that  were  set  in  motion 
to  encompass  this  very  thing.  It  would  take  a  fiction- 
ist  of  the  highest  talent  to  clearly  and  in  order  record 
the  story  and  tell  it  as  it  should  be  told.  With  the 
brief  space  both  of  time  and  volume,  now  left,  that  is 
impossible. 

Naturally,  many  will  want  to  know  just  why  S. 
Glenn  Young,  who  must  have  known  that  he  was 
marked  for  slaughter,  remained  where  his  enemies 
and  his  executioners  were  also  near.  Force  of  circum- 
stance, those  circumstances  that  governed  his  move- 
ments and  impelled  him  to  many  acts  that  in  the  case 
of  others  would  have  been  actually  foolhardy,  were  in 
the  main  responsible. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN   YOUNG 223 

Glenn  Young  was  not  a  braggart,  nor  was  he  a  fool. 
He  was  courageous  to  the  uttermost  degree,  but  he 
was  not  without  the  kind  of  judgment  that  accom- 
panies real  bravery.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  felt  that 
he  was  more  safe  in  Herrin,  surrounded  as  he  was  by 
loyal  friends  and  supporters  who  would  have  followed 
him  to  certain  death  and  gone  down  battling  for  his 
sake  and  considered  the  sacrifice  none  too  great,  as  two 
of  them  did  and  others  were  standing  by  ready  to  do. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Glenn  Young  left  Herrin  on 
more  than  one  occasion  for  absences  of  some  length. 
His  work  in  Williamson  County  was  completed  so  far 
as  his  obligations  to  and  agreement  with  the  citizens 
of  that  county  went.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  at- 
tempted assassination  in  the  Okaw  river  bottoms,  de- 
scribed previously,  he  would  probably  have  re- 
mained away  for  considerable  periods,  although  it  was 
his  expressed  intention  to  establish  and  maintain  a 
residence  in  Williamson  County  and  more  than  likely 
seek  the  nomination  for  sheriff  of  the  county  in  the 
next  general  election.  His  plans  in  taking  up  and 
pursuing  work  in  the  organization  department  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  were  disrupted  by  the 
ambuscade  and  its  results.  Herrin  klansmen  were 
quick  to  respond  to  the  needs  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Young  while  they  were  lying  wounded  and  helpless  in 
the  hospital,  and  their  entire  strength  and  resources 
were  placed  at  their  disposal.  Naturally,  Glenn  Young 
sought  a  haven  among  his  friends. 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  not  mercenary.  He  was  not 
even  careful  in  respect  to  the  business  side  of  his 
career,  and  having  worked  for  so  long  as  a  salaried 
government  employe  with  an  assured  income,  he  was 


.-5x 


A  J 


i  ^_  J  ^  ^ 


^   r^T- 


iHostiRSitUi  Joc  ois^  itMiwH  <n«ni^.    ale  msB  mot  qhsp- 

ami  Tuirdifitel&i^m 

am.  MmmB iintiiJiiwftilig  .hul  jt  :aig  Bie  ^jm 

"Wnnr    ^fEn  ~^nrmr-  Wnr  jST  ISET  HUUUHUHfi  t&Blt  te 


-  _Li^  JEB  jBHiiflmit  oBBi^  cm 
■HTir  TnTnigt  nimajimumm.  ~wiil 

'•^esiKSb  iariuBCi-zniEBi&BBtTEr: 
:tiig  niL  iiir  MWT  jHig.  M^- 

iJi^iM^   -trtTTIiftMi. 
JDC    l.lffi»-~fT 
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J6g  ^I'lBurgagr-  ns 


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LlF- 


21 


RAIDER   S.    GLEyy   YOVNG 


225 


226 LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

sentence  and  had  been  appointed  a  deputy  sheriff.  It 
was  during  this  period,  also,  that  the  massacre  at  the 
John  Smith  garage  had  taken  place,  and  Glenn  Young 
felt  that  his  place  should  have  been  here,  and  that  per- 
haps had  he  been  in  Herrin  the  affair  would  not  have 
taken  place. 

So  shortly  after  this  he  returned  to  Herrin,  so 
much  improved  that  crutches  were  discarded  for  a 
cane.  That  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  The  knowl- 
edge that  men  had  been  shot  down  who  for  months 
had  been  among  his  closest  associates  and  were  killed 
mainly  because  they  had  been  such,  must  have  weighed 
on  his  mind.  The  practical  defiance  to  law  and  order 
exhibited  by  Sheriff  Galligan  and  his  aides  on  all  sides, 
the  threats  they  were  constantly  uttering,  and  their 
apparent  intention  to  remove  all  those  who  had  taken 
leading  parts  in  the  series  of  episodes  and  incidents 
that  led  up  to  this  point  were  factors  that  must  be 
considered.  Opposition  from  these  who  had  felt  the 
heavy  hand  of  the  law  soon  began  to  show  itself.  Added 
to  this  was  opposition  that  developed  among  a  few 
former  supporters,  which  originated  probably  within 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  that  had  for  its  excuse  the  fact 
that  S.  Glenn  Young  had  resumed  raiding  of  boot- 
leggers in  all  parts  of  the  county,  although  the  war- 
rants were  legal  and  the  parties  were  ahvays  accom- 
panied by  constables  or  other  officers,  and  had  com- 
municated itself  to  some  who  had  heretofore  been  sup- 
porters but  now  were  withdrawing.  As  soon  as  this 
feeling  appeared,  insidious  efforts  were  exerted,  suc- 
cessfully, to  enlarge  its  scope  and  discredit  not  only 
the  present  but  the  past  work  of  the  raider,  and  to 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  227 

break  the  ranks  of  his  supporters  by  means  of  a  propa- 
ganda campaign. 

These  were  some  of  the  things  that  strengthened 
the  determination  of  S.  Glenn  Young  to  stay  in  Herrin 
until  the  job  he  had  inaugurated  and  directed  was  en- 
tirely completed  and  until  the  forces  of  evil  and  am- 
bassadors of  crime  had  been  vanquished.  It  may  be, 
too,  that  to  leave  at  this  juncture  would  have  been 
made  the  occasion  to  accuse  him  of  cowardice,  and  that 
this  also  entered  as  a  motive  in  keeping  him  in  full 
view  of  the  enemy.  It  w^as  reported,  and  is  no  doubt 
true,  that  he  declined  an  offer  to  go  to  Miami,  Fla.,  to 
engage  in  a  crusade  similar  to  that  which  cleaned  up 
Williamson  County,  but  declined  the  job  and  expressed 
a  determination  to  stay  on  the  old  job  until  the  forces 
he  was  opposing  w^ere  routed. 

Then  came  a  forlorn-hope  trip  to  Rochester, 
Minn.,  to  have  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Young  examined  before 
the  far-famed  clinic  of  the  Mayo  Bros.'  hospital.  The 
verdict  that  was  rendered  held  out  the  slightest  of 
hopes,  and  at  the  same  time  practically  condemned  the 
young  w^fe  and  mother  to  an  existence  in  the  dark. 
Again  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Young  returned  to  Herrin,  and 
this  time  it  was  forever  for  the  fearless  and  gallant 
champion  of  organized  government. 

Who  can  say  what  thoughts  passed  through  the 
active  mind  of  he  who  was  so  soon  to  be  plunged  into 
eternity  without  an  instant  for  preparation?  Who  can 
even  imagine  his  harrowing  grief  as  he  realized  that 
happiness  for  him  was  only  a  hollow  mockery  with  his 
companion  doomed  to  life  long  blindness  and  helpless- 
ness?   He  had  much  time  for  bitter  reflection  during 


228 LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

the  weeks  that  passed  between  the  return  from  Minne- 
sota and  the  fatal  encounter  that  eventually  ensued. 

His  friends  noted  a  changed  demeanor,  although 
he  may  have  been  successful  in  concealing  the  change 
from  his  wife  on  account  of  her  affliction.  He  was 
less  patient  of  the  weakness  he  could  see  in  others,  he 
threw  down  the  gage  of  battle  to  those  of  his  former 
supporters  who  had  apparently  deserted  him,  and  his 
even  temper  showed  signs  of  fraying.  Where  once 
nothing  could  ruffle  the  calmness  of  his  demeanor,  not 
even  bodily  danger  of  the  most  threatening  nature, 
there  were  signs  of  a  growing  irascibility  that  was 
entirely  foreign  to  the  nature  of  S.  Glenn  Young.  Then 
came  the  day  and  the  hour,  the  tragedy  that  thrilled  a 
nation,  and  the  final  acts  of  devotion  and  tributes  of 
respect.  These  can  best  be  set  forth  by  the  accounts 
of  the  shooting,  and  of  subsequent  events,  as  published 
in  the  Herrin  Herald  and  written  while  the  stress  of 
the  period  was  intense  and  the  details  freshly  im- 
printed. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  229 


LEADERS  OF  OPPOSING  FACTIONS  MEET 
AND  FOURTH  TRAGEDY  OF  CLASH  OF  LAW 
AND  LAWLESSNESS  BLOTS  THE  RECORDS 
(From  Herrin  Herald,  Jan.  29,  1925.) 

S.  Glenn  Young,  Edward  B.  Forbes,  Omer  Warren 
and  Ora  Thomas  are  dead,  four  families  and  numerous 
friends  and  relatives  are  in  the  depths  of  giievous 
mourning  and  a  brooding  spirit  of  dread  hovers  over 
the  community.  Yet  both  factions  seem  to  have  at  last 
attained  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  the  mood  of  the 
hour  is  more  hopeful  than  it  has  been  for  many  months 
in  this  section  of  Williamson  county.  There  is  a  sign 
of  brightening  in  the  dark  clouds  that  have  hovered 
for  so  many  months  like  a  pall  in  the  civic  skies. 

Herrin  has  just  passed  through  another  shambles. 
Saturday  night,  just  as  the  picture  shoves  v^ere  dis- 
gorging hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children  into  the 
downtown  streets,  the  staccato  reports  of  automatic 
pistols  of  large  calibre  swelled  in  mounting  crescendo, 
accompanied  by  the  deeper  tones  of  police  positive  re- 
volvers as  the  bass  notes  of  the  piano  punctuate  the 
treble  motif.  For  thirty  seconds,  possibly,  the  reverb- 
erations swelled  and  then  abruptly  ceased,  leaving  on 
the  floor  of  the  Canary  cigar  store  in  the  European 
hotel  building  four  men  weltering  in  their  own  blood. 
Pedestrians  near  the  corner  of  North  Park  avenue  and 
Monroe  street  scurried  to  cover  in  doorways,  around 
corners  and  behind  parked  automobiles,  while  those 
farther  removed  gravitated  in  that  direction. 


230 


LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  231 

In  that  brief  thirty  seconds  four  lives  had  been 
snuffed  out.  Two  of  these  men,  dead  or  dying,  were 
the  outstanding  militant  leaders  of  the  factions  rep- 
resented in  the  internecine  strife  of  the  past  fourteen 
months  —  Glenn  Young,  redoubtable  chieftain  of  the 
law  and  order  forces,  and  Ora  Thomas,  chief  deputy 
under  Sheriff  George  Galligan  and  field  general  of  the 
forces  in  opposition.  The  other  two  men  laid  low  were 
Edward  B.  Forbes  and  Omer  Warren.  From  the  most 
reliable  reports  to  be  had,  neither  Forbes  nor  Warren 
had  an  active  part  in  the  battle.  Young  and  Thomas 
accounted  for  each  other  and  Forbes  was  probably  shot 
by  Thomas  as  he  turned  and  fell,  while  it  is  a  question 
as  to  who  was  responsible  for  the  shooting  of  Warren. 

Thirty  or  forty  minutes  before  this  sanguinary 
battle  a  shot  rang  out,  a  bullet  from  a  large  calibre  re- 
volver or  high  powered  rifle  pinged  against  a  granite 
pillar  in  the  main  entrance  to  the  Gauldoni  drug  store 
in  the  Annex  building,  a  block  down  Park  avenue  and 
across  the  street  from  the  European  hotel.  Reports 
vary  as  to  where  this  shot  came  from  and  its  purpose. 
Only  testimony  before  the  coroner's  inquest,  which  will 
probably  not  be  available  for  a  week,  will  throw  any 
light  on  this  incident. 

Friends  of  S.  Glenn  Young  assert  that  the  shot 
was  the  bait  and  the  lure  to  draw  the  raider  into  range 
of  the  guns  of  his  enemies.  It  certainly  had  that  effect. 
Others  claim  that  the  shot  was  fired  by  members  of  the 
Young  party  to  intimidate  Thomas  and  his  adherents. 
Still  another  version,  and  one  corroborated  by  half  a 
dozen  eye  witnesses,  is  that  the  shot  came  from  the 
revolver  in  the  hands  of  Ross  (Red)  Lisenby,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Herrin  night  police   force,    while    Lisenby 


232 LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

claims  that  the  shot  was  intended  to  place  a  quietus 
upon  his  career.  The  only  sure  thing  about  this  phase 
of  the  affair  is  that  the  shot  was  fired,  and  that  it 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  tragedy  that  followed 
shortly  afterward. 

The  lone  shot  brought  out  many  people,  and  little 
groups  stood  on  the  streets  and  discussed  the  incident. 
S.  Glenn  Young  and  several  of  his  friends,  whose 
identities  have  not  been  revealed,  also  began  an  in- 
vestigation into  the  happening.  Young  knew  that 
Thomas  was  in  Herrin,  having  encountered  him  upon 
the  street  prior  to  this  time  and  exchanged  words, 
warning  the  deputy  sheriff  not  to  make  a  move  toward 
drawing  a  revolver.  Thomas  was  the  implacable  enemy 
of  Young  and  Young  was  not  taking  any  chances  with 
him  and  at  the  same  time  did  not  take  undue  advant- 
age of  his  opportunity. 

All  kinds  of  wild  tales,  lurid  in  their  vividness,  had 
been  circulating  in  Herrin,  ever  since  the  return  of 
S.  Glenn  Young  and  his  blind  wife  from  Rochester, 
Minn.,  some  weeks  ago.  These  tales  had  for  their  ap- 
parent object  the  fanning  of  the  flames  of  hatred  be- 
tween leaders  of  both  factions,  in  the  hope  of  provok- 
ing one  side  or  the  other  to  some  such  action  as  oc- 
curred Saturday  night,  and  another  object  was  to 
create  dissension  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  sponsored 
the  Williamson  county  cleanup  and  create  a  division 
in  their  voting  strength.  Even  yet  this  same  propa- 
ganda is  alive  and  spreading  its  slimy  trail  through 
church  and  home,  store  and  office. 

In  the  course  of  the  investigation  headed  by  Young 
and  his  friends,  how  many  is  not  known  at  this  time, 
but  comparatively  few,  the  party  was  led  to  the  Canary 


RAIDER    S  .    GLEXX    YOU  X  G  233 

cigar  store  in  the  European  hotel,  which  occupies  the 
front  corner  room  in  front  of  the  lobby  of  the  hotel 
and  a  grill  room  in  the  rear.  Young  first  entered  the 
cigar  store  and  passed  through  to  look  into  the  small 
hotel  lobby.  He  apparently  did  not  see  anyone  he 
cared  to  accost  and  walked  out  through  the  front 
door.  But  he  immediately  turned  and  again  entered 
the  store,  approaching  a  miner  named  Elias  Green. 
Young  accused  Green,  it  is  said,  of  spreading  reports 
that  he  was  a  "scab  herder,"  about  the  worst  accusa- 
tion that  can  be  made  against  a  man  in  this  union 
stronghold. 

Ora  Thomas  was  not  then  in  the  place.  That  seems 
absolutely  established.  Thomas  did,  however,  come 
up  the  street  from  an  office  where  he  had  gone  follow- 
ing the  single  shot  some  time  previously.  It  is  said 
that  he  telephoned  his  wife  from  that  office  saying  they 
''had  him  trapped,"  but  that  he  was  not  trapped  subse- 
quent events  proved.  When  Thomas  entered,  reliable 
witnesses  will  testify  at  the  coroner's  inquest,  Young 
had  his  back  to  the  door  but  realized  who  it  was  and 
warned  Thomas  not  to  draw  his  revolver.  These  wit- 
nesses said  that  Thomas  had  his  .45  calibre  Colt's  auto- 
matic  in  his  right  hand  overcoat  pocket  apparently 
ready  for  action,  and  that  he  continued  to  cross  the 
floor  toward  one  of  the  counters. 

Young  was  occupied  with  watching  both  Green 
and  Thomas,  and  again  warned  Thomas  not  to  make 
an  overt  move.  Thomas  said  nothing,  but  when  he 
was  at  the  end  of  the  counter,  suddenly  produced  his 
pistol  and  fired  the  first  shot.  Young  at  that  time  had 
neither  of  his  two  weapons  in  his  hands  or  in  sight 
unless  their  handles  could  not  be  seen  above  his  over- 


234 LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

coat  pocket.  Young  started  to  sink  and  at  the  same 
time  drew  one  of  his  own  guns  and  fired  at  Thomas, 
the  bullet  from  Young's  automatic  striking  Thomas 
over  one  of  his  eyes  and  passing  straight  through  his 
head. 

Then  the  shooting  became  general  and  it  will 
probably  never  be  definitely  known  just  how  the  other 
victims  met  their  death.  Firing  from  the  outside  un- 
doubtedly followed  closely  that  upon  the  inside  of  the 
cigar  store.  Forbes  was  probably  struck  by  a  bullet 
fired  by  Thomas  after  he  was  wounded,  as  the  whole 
clip  of  the  automatic  used  by  Thomas  is  said  to  have 
been  emptied.  Young's  revolver  showed  that  he  fired 
only  two  shots.  Forbes,  while  he  carried  a  weapon, 
did  not  remove  it  from  its  holster,  and  Warren  had  no 
weapon  in  his  hand  when  he  w^as  killed. 

Young  and  Forbes  died  almost  instantly,  while 
Thomas  lived  for  some  minutes.  Two  bullets  pierced 
the  breast  of  S.  Glenn  Young.  One  entered  the  right 
side  and  went  straight  through  "his  body  and  through 
the  heart.  The  first  bullet  struck  while  Young  was 
still  erect,  but  the  second  messenger  of  death  which 
probably  found  its  mark  as  he  was  sinking  to  the  floor, 
entered  the  right  breast  higher  and  ranged  dowTiward 
through  the  body  and  not  quite  out  of  the  small  of  the 
back.  Forbes  was  shot  once,  the  bullet  penetrating 
the  lower  part  of  the  heart.  Thomas  was  struck  once, 
in  the  forehead  with  the  bullet  emerging  from  the  back 
of  the  skull.  Warren's  wounds  were  strangest  of  all. 
He  had  two  bullet  holes  in  the  top  of  his  head,  which 
led  to  the  belief  that  shots  had  been  fired  from  a  win- 
dow in  the  second  story  of  the  European  hotel.  War- 
ren lived  for  several  hours  after  being  removed  to  the 


RAID  ER    S.    GLENN    Y  O  U  N  G  235 

hospital,  and  Thomas  lived  for  nearly  half  an  hour 
after  being  shot. 

Neither  Forbes  nor  Warren  had  achieved  any  espe- 
cial prominence  in  the  events  of  recent  history. 
Whether  they  were  actually  v^ith  Young  or  merely 
happened  to  be  on  the  streets  at  the  time  and  followed 
him  into  the  store  on  errands  of  their  own  is  a  moot 
question.  That  Thomas  was  alone  is  also  dis- 
puted, and  there  are  any  number  of  details  that  in 
the  end  will  rest  upon  mere  supposition.  Green  did 
not  take  any  part  in  the  affray,  it  would  seem  from  all 
accounts  as  they  are  pieced  together,  nor  did  anyone 
else  on  the  inside  come  to  the  aid  of  Thomas,  but  it  is 
probable  that  his  aides  were  not  in  position  to  effec- 
tively assist  him. 

Yet,  from  past  events  and  well  defined  rumors, 
there  was  a  conspiracy  to  ''get"  S.  Glenn  Young  and 
it  could  easily  be  deduced  that  the  plot  came  to  its 
fruition  Saturday  night.  No  man  in  Williamson  county 
had  so  many  implacable  enemies,  no  man  was  so  villi- 
fied  and  cordially  hated,  no  other  man  constituted  such 
a  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  ''restoring"  conditions 
desired  by  these  enemies.  There  was  a  constant  flow 
of  gossip  intended  to  induce  Young  and  Thomas  to  fly 
at  each  other's  throats  like  wolves  maddened  from 
hunger  in  a  desolate  and  desolated  world. 

Following  the  battle  within  the  small  space  of  the 
Canary  cigar  store,  friends  of  the  victims  removed 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  to  the  undertakers'  morgue  and 
the  wounded  were  taken  to  the  Black  hospital.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Law  Enforcement  League,  deputized  for 
that  purpose  by  Police    Officer    Harold    Grain,    took 


236  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

charge  of  the  streets  and  a  hundred  or  more  armed 
men  patrolled  the  downtown  thoroughfares  and  the 
highways  entering  the  city.  One  of  the  sad  incidents 
was  when  a  son  of  Edward  Forbes,  on  his  way  home 
from  a  basket  ball  game  at  the  high  school,  helped  to 
handle  the  body  of  his  father  until  he  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  dead  man's  face  and  almost  collapsed.  The  chief 
of  police  did  not  appear  at  the  city  hall,  and  Night 
Chief  Harry  Walker  and  Officer  Lisenby  were  not  in 
evidence  following  the  affray.  The  deputized  officers 
stopped  many  cars  entering  the  city  and  on  the  main 
streets,  as  a  precautionary  measure  to  avoid  further 
trouble. 

It  was  not  until  the  arrival  of  half  a  company  of 
national  guards  from  Carbondale,  under  command  of 
Major  Robert  Davis,  that  the  citizens  were  relieved  of 
their  duties  and  ordered  to  their  homes  by  the  soldiers. 
The  soldiers  at  first  disarmed  the  volunteer  officers, 
but  upon  explanation  returned  their  arms  and  re- 
quested that  all  but  a  necessary  few  leave  the  streets, 
which  was  complied  with.  The  troops  were  ordered 
here  by  Governor  Len  Small  and  Adjutant  General 
Carlos  Black  after  telephone  communications  had  in- 
formed the  state  officials  of  the  situation.  Sheriff  Gal- 
ligan  denies  requesting  the  presence  of  troops,  but  the 
governor  would  not  have  acted,  otherwise. 

There  was  not  the  slightest  indication  of  further 
trouble  after  the  brief  but  tragic  battle  in  the  Europ- 
ean hotel  bwilding.  After  arrival  of  the  trooiis  there 
were  even  fewer  symptoms  of  another  outbreak. 

When  Sunday  morning  dawned,  bright  and  clear 
with  sunshine  flooding  the  city,  it  was  hard  to  realize 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN   YOUNG  237 

that  anything  out  of  the  ordinary  had  occurred.  Yet 
it  was  not  long  until  the  streets  were  thronged  with 
automobiles  and  pedestrians,  with  soldiers  doing  patrol 
duty  on  every  block  and  in  front  of  the  undertaking 
parlors  where  the  dead  men  were  taken.  All  day  Sun- 
day the  roads  leading  into  Herrin  were  crowded  with 
automobiles  arriving  and  leaving  this  center  of  nation- 
wide interest.  Thousands  viewed  the  body  of  S.  Glenn 
Young  in  the  Jenkins  mortuary  chapel,  where  it  rested 
in  state,  but  other  thousands  merely  drove  through  the 
streets  and  observed  the  outward  signs  that  remained. 
The  bodies  of  Edward  Forbes  and  Omer  Warren  were 
removed  to  the  family  homes  early  Sunday  morning, 
and  only  the  body  of  S.  Glenn  Young  was  placed  on 
public  view.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  Sunday  night 
service  at  the  First  Baptist  church,  a  guard  of  honor  of 
friends  of  the  dead  leader  escorted  the  remains  to  the 
church,  where  the  casket  has  since  rested,  with  relays 
of  friends  and  fellow  workers  constantly  in  attendance. 


238 


LIFE     AS  D     EXPLOITS     OF 


^W  ' 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOUNG  239 

ORDER  OF  SERVICE  FOR  FUNERAL  OF 
S.  GLENN  YOUNG 

Rev.  P.  R.  Glotfelty,  pastor  of  the  First  Methodist 
church  of  Herrin,  \yith  which  denomination  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  S.  Glenn  Young  were  affiliated;  Rev.  I.  E. 
Lee,  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  church  of  Herrin ;  Rev. 
J.  E.  Story,  pastor  of  the  First  Christian  church  of 
Herrin ;  Rev.  B.  E.  Green  of  Herrin,  pastor  of  the  First 
Baptist  church  of  Hurst,  and  Rev.  William  Carlton, 
young  Baptist  Minister  of  Marion,  all  of  whom  were 
closely  associated  with  S.  Glenn  Young  in  his  magnifi- 
cent work  in  Williamson  county,  will  have  leading 
parts  in  the  services  preceding  the  burial  of  the  dead 
raid  leader  Thursday  afternoon.  Many  visiting  min- 
isters will  be  present  and  so  far  as  possible  will  be 
given  places  of  honor.  The  following  is  the  program 
of  the  service  at  the  First  Baptist  church : 

Solo,  'The  Rosary" ..____ Mrs.  Otto  Tate 

Scripture  Reading,  the  T^venty-third  Psalm __ 

Prayer By  Visiting  Minister 

Solo,  "Somewhere  a  Voice  Is  Calling" __ 

Rev.  H.  Ward,  Assis't  Pastor  First  Baptist  Church 

Reading  of  Obituary - Rev.  B.  E.  Green 

Solo,  "Beautiful  Isle  of  Somewhere" Mrs.  Otto  Tate 

Sketch,  "His  Early  Life" Rev.  J.  E.  Story 

Sketch,  "S.  Glenn  Young,  the  Raider" 

.—Rev.  William  Carlton,  Baptist  Minister,  Marion 
Sketch,  "Young's  Work  in  Williamson  County — A 

Backward  Look" _- - Rev.  I.  E.  Lee 

Sketch,  "Young's  Work  in  Williamson  County — A 

Forward  Look" Rev.  P.  R.  Glotfelty 

Solo,  "Day  Is  Dying  in  the  West" Rev.  Henry  Ward. 


240  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

FUNERAL  RITES  FOR  S.  GLENN  YOUNG 

IMPRESSIVE  AND  CARRIED  OUT  IN  THE 
PRESENCE  OF  THOUSANDS  OF  PEOPLE 

Thursday,  January  29,  1925,  is  a  memorable  day  in 
the  annals  of  Williamson  county,  which  has  been  the 
setting  for  many  notable  happenings,  many  of  them 
of  a  regrettable  nature.  It  was  the  last  day  that  S. 
Glenn  Young  would  ever  be  viewed  in  the  flesh,  and  the 
figure  which  had  become  so  familiar  to  residents  of 
the  strife  torn  community  was  to  be  carried  to  its 
last  earthly  habitation. 

The  day  dawned  with  leaden  skies,  matching  the 
spirit  of  depression  that  has  enveloped  friends  and 
admirers  since  the  tragic  occurrence  of  Saturday  night, 
January  24,  the  chill  winds  lightly  blowing  over  snowy 
fields  and  lawn  being  no  colder  than  the  hearts  of  men 
who  had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  martyred 
hero  in  the  tremendous  struggle  of  recent  months. 
There  was  just  one  happy  augury.  Aw^ay  down  on  the 
eastern  horizon  w^ere  the  faintest  of  rosy  tints,  where 
the  sun  was  struggling  to  break  through  the  dark 
clouds  that  obscured  its  face  and  behind  whose  curtain 
it  was  just  as  bright,  just  as  warm,  just  as  beneficent 
as  when  there  were  no  rifts  in  the  skies.  There  are 
those  optimists  who  see  the  faint  dawning  of  a  better 
day  in  Williamson  county,  knowing  that  the  blackest 
of  clouds  have  a  silver  lining,  and  that  while  there 
are  days  dark  and  dreary  they  are  sure  to  be  succeeded 
by  other  and  brighter  days  when  it  is  good  to  be  alive. 

Since  nine  o'clock  Sunday  night  the  body  of  S. 
Glenn  Young  had  peacefully  reposed  in  front  of  the 


RAIDER    S.    GLEXN    YOU  X  G  241 

chancel  of  the  First  Baptist  church,  guarded  every 
minute  by  mourning  and  faithful  friends.  To  estimate 
the  number  of  people  who  had  passed  the  bier  and 
gazed  with  mingled  feelings  upon  the  motionless  form 
so  calm  in  its  silent  majesty  is  impossible.  Fifteen 
thousand  persons  passed  through  the  mortuar>^  chapel 
Sunday  morning,  afternoon  and  evening,  and  since  the 
casket  was  removed  to  the  church  there  has  been  an 
almost  constant  stream  of  visitors.  Any  who  came,  at 
anj^  hour  of  day  or  night,  were  granted  the  privilege 
of  paying  homage  or  gratifying  their  curiosity. 

Last  night,  the  last  on  earth  for  S.  Glenn  Young, 
two  white  robed  and  hooded  sentries  stood  motionless 
at  the  head  and  foot  of  their  friend  and  leader,  arms 
folded  and  lips  as  mute  as  the  one  they  guarded,  lend- 
ing an  air  of  weirdness  to  a  scene  indescribably  beauti- 
ful. These  sentries  were  changed  every  fifteen 
minutes,  two  entering  from  the  front  and  those  re- 
lieved disappearing  into  a  back  room.  The  ceremony 
was  continued  until  long  after  midnight  and  resumed 
early  this  morning. 

With  altar  and  chancel,  choir  loft  and  platform 
buried  in  lovely  flowers  in  varied  but  always  beautiful 
design,  two  fiery  crosses  with  white  lights  illuminated 
a  scene  of  rare  and  awesome  beauty,  almost  the  only 
illumination  of  the  auditorium.  Flowers  came  from 
many  Southern  Illinois  points,  and  from  distant  states, 
as  well  as  from  Herrin  and  Williamson  county  individ- 
uals and  organizations.  Those  who  gazed  and  drank 
their  fill  will  never  entirely  forget  the  sight. 

Today's  event  was  undoubtedly  the  largest  funeral 
of  its  kind  ever  observed  in  the  history  of  the  Knights 


242 LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 

of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  under  the  auspices  of  anj-  local 
organization.  It  was  strictly  a  klan  funeral  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  During  the  religious  service  there 
were  no  robed  men  or  women  except  the  sentries  and 
the  pall  bearers.  Following  the  church  program, 
klansmen  donned  their  regalia  and  continued  garbed 
in  their  white  robes  and  helmets  until  the  last  sad 
rites  were  said  at  the  Herrin  cemetery. 

The  pallbearers  were  Arlie  0.  Boswell,  state's  attor- 
ney; Leonard  Stearns,  circuit  clerk;  Fred  Simpson, 
county  recorder;  John  H.  Smith,  garage  owner;  Glenn 
Fowler,  son  of  the  secretary  of  the  township  high 
school  board,  who  was  Young's  constant  aide  for 
months;  Roy  Browning,  contractor. 

Reaching  the  cemetery  the  ritual  of  the  klan  was 
carried  out  impressively,  and  then  the  dove  gray 
casket  was  sealed  and  lowered  into  the  vault  partly 
prepared  for  its  reception,  and  to  be  completed  by 
workmen  before  they  depart  from  the  burying  place. 
Literally  a  hill  of  flowers  surrounded  the  mausoleum 
and  would  completely  cover  it  deeply  when  the  top 
was  completed. 

This  mausoleum  is  located  in  the  new  part  of  the 
Herrin  cemetery  in  plain  view  of  passersby  on  the 
hard  road.  It  is  constructed  of  thick  concrete  base  and 
walls,  reinforced  with  steel  and  steel  lined,  only  large 
enough  to  contain  one  casket.  This  precaution  has 
been  taken  to  thwart  the  ghouls  who  doubtless  would 
attempt  to  desecrate  the  grave  of  S.  Glenn  Young 
under  other  conditions.  For  a  time  close  watch  will 
be  kept  on  the  burial  plot  that  some  foul  effort  is  not 
made  to  disfigure,  if  not  destroy,  the  mausoleum.  Some 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 243 

may  think  this  is  far  fetched  but  they  do  not  know 
the  character  of  the  opposition  in  Williamson  county. 
It  is  not  the  foreigner  or  alien  who  would  do  this.  It 
is  the  men  without  a  country  masquerading  as  Ameri- 
cans who  are  so  perverted  and  so  degraded  that 
nothing  is  too  low  for  them  to  essay.  Some  of  them 
are  men  occupying  high  places  in  law  and  scientific 
professions,  federal  offices  and  lesser  places  of  honor 
and  power,  who  might  not  commit  the  deeds  them- 
selves but  would  order  tools  to  dastardly  deeds  and 
pay  them! 

As  a  last  w^ord  and  continuing  the  same  line  of 
thought,  this  fight  of  past  and  present  in  Williamson 
county  is  not  a  klan  and  anti-klan  fight.  It  is  not  a 
religious  fight,  although  the  Protestant  churches  are 
leading  and  supporting  it  and  other  denominations  are 
not  aiding.  Even  the  most  casual  readers  of  the  pur- 
posely distorted  accounts  of  recent  events  can  see  that. 
What  few  foreigners  or  men  of  foreign-born  parentage 
are  implicated  are  outnumbered  by  those  who  should 
have  an  undying  loyalty  for  our  country  and  its  in- 
stitutions, by  birth  and  education.  It  is  a  battle  for 
right  against  wrong,  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between 
forces  on  strictly  moral  issues,  a  fight  for  good  govern- 
ment opposed  to  corruption,  the  clash  of  those  who  be- 
lieve in  law  against  those  who  profit  from  lawless- 
ness. Thus  the  issue  is  joined  and  it  is  a  struggle  that 
must  be  indisputably  won  by  one  side  or  the  other 
before  it  is  finally  settled. 


244 


LIFE    AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG   245 


MORE  DETAILS  OF  FUNERAL 

(From  Herrin  Herald,  Jan.  30,  1925.) 

S.  Glenn  Young  is  at  rest.  The  last  rites  were  said 
over  all  that  was  earthly  of  the  slain  chieftain  at  the 
Herrin  cemetery  at  eventide  Thursday  night,  January 
29,  1925,  after  a  day  crowded  with  events,  and  in  the 
presence  of  devoted  loved  ones,  followers,  klansmen 
and  women,  the  casket  was  lowered  into  its  final  rest- 
ing place  in  the  vault  amid  the  silent  prayers  of  the 
solemn  faced  men  and  women.  Although  forever  lost 
to  the  sight  of  man,  his  features  and  his  qualities  are 
enduringly  stamped  upon  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
thousands,  while  millions  yet  unborn  will  bless  his 
name  although  they  never  know  it. 

It  was  not  until  the  shades  of  a  drear  winter  night 
had  enveloped  the  precincts  of  the  cemetery  that  the 
funeral  cortege  arrived  at  the  burying  ground.     By 
the  dim  light  of  a  new  moon  and  a  few  stars,  barely 
heightened  by  the  flickering  of  three  small  candles, 
the  ritual  of  the  Knights  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  had  con- 
signed the  bodv  of  their  revered  leader  to  the  earth  and 
his  soul  to  the  Master.     Then,  as  the  male  quartet 
started  to  sing  the  strains  of  "The  Old  Rugged  Cross", 
there  rang  out  from  a  distance  the  beautiful  strams  of 
"Taps."     Instantly  over  the  crowd,  uncomfortable  in 
the  cold  and  more  or  less  restless  from  their  discom- 
fort, there  descended  a  blanket  of  silence,  the  hush  of 
which  was  so  pronounced  it  was  poignant.     It  was 
the  most  impressive  moment  of  an  occasion  pregnant 
with  meaning. 


246 LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

Representatives  of  city  newspapers,  antagonistic  to 
S.  Glenn  Young  and  the  movement  for  which  he  served 
and  for  which  he  sacrificed,  gave  the  number  of  people 
drawn  to  Herrin  yesterday  at  25,000,  and  that  was  the 
figure  published  in  the  metropolitan  papers  this  morn- 
ing. It  is  easily  probable  that  these  estimates  were 
purposely  low,  and  just  as  low  as  possible  to  be  made 
and  not  be  disproved.  So,  when  the  Herrin  Herald 
gives  an  estimate  that  40,000  people  were  attracted 
to  Herrin  yesterday  by  the  outstanding  event  of  its 
history,  it  is  felt  that  the  bounds  of  reason  are  recog- 
nized. 

Two  different  men  here  yesterday,  and  at  different 
times,  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  the  crowd  here 
Thursday  was  larger  than  that  which  assembled  for 
the  funeral  of  President  Harding.  Yet  even  at  25,000 
the  friends  and  relatives  of  S.  Glenn  Young  feel  that 
sufficient  honor  was  rendered  and  that  enough  of  real 
homage  was  exhibited  to  forever  perpetuate  the  name 
of  their  relative  and  friend.  One  thing  is  almost  cer- 
tain, the  number  of  people  who  passed  the  bier  of  S. 
Glenn  Young,  from  Sunday  morning  until  the  last 
straggler  had  been  admitted  to  the  Baptist  church  yes- 
terday afternoon,  number  more  than  50,000  and  proba- 
bly w^as  greater  than  ever  before  on  a  similar  occasion 
without  a  single  exception. 

People  began  to  fill  the  First  Baptist  church  early 
on  the  morning  of  the  funeral  day,  and  by  half  past 
nine  every  seat  was  filled.  These  early  comers,  eight- 
een hundred  of  them,  sat  reverently  in  their  pews  and 
chairs  from  that  hour  until  nearly  five  o'clock  without 
water  or  food,  and  then  the  most  of  them  followed  the 
casket  to  the  cemetery  and  stood  in  the  cold  air  and 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 247 

on  the  half  frozen  slush  and  mud  for  another  hour  and 
a  half.  It  was  wonderful.  That  is  the  only  term  that 
is  descriptive. 

While  the  long  service  was  being  carried  out  thou- 
sands stood  in  the  streets.  Overflow  services  were  held 
at  the  First  Christian  and  First  Methodist  churches, 
while  the  beautiful  Masonic  Temple  was  thrown  open 
on  both  floors  to  allow  those  who  desired  to  get  indoors 
to  relieve  their  discomfort  to  some  extent.  Every 
courtesy  possible  was  shovm  the  multitude,  without 
distinction,  and  the  late  hour  at  which  the  procession 
left  the  church  was  due  to  anxiety  to  give  every  visitor 
the  privilege  of  gazing  for  the  last  and  perhaps  the 
first  and  only  time  upon  the  man  whose  exploits  had 
drawn  them  here. 

Between  seven  and  eight  thousand  people  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  privilege  to  pass  before  the  bier  where, 
banked  with  a  profusion  of  flowers  from  distant  and 
near  points,  the  last  hours  of  S.  Glenn  Young  were 
spent,  with  his  spirit  released  from  its  earthly  prison. 
At  the  head  of  the  casket  sat  the  young  blinded  wife, 
whose  love  and  faith  and  loyalty  led  her  to  accompany 
her  mate  through  storm  and  strife,  fair  weather  and 
foul,  the  peaceful  quiet  of  the  little  village  home  of  her 
parents  in  Patoka,  and  in  the  great  centers  of  popula- 
tion, and  finally  through  the  dastardly  attempted  as- 
sassination which  resulted  in  her  blindness,  and  was 
but  the  forerunner  of  the  final  ending. 

Widows  of  others  slain  with  the  dead  man  and  in 
prior  massacres  were  also  present,  and  Mrs.  Edward 
Forbes,  wife  of  one  of  the  men  who  fell  at  the  same 
time  as  S.  Glenn  Young,  could  not  control  the  grief 


248 


LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  249 

she  felt  for  both  herself  and  Mrs.  Young.  Other 
women  bent  to  kiss  the  pathetic  figure,  who  sat  dry 
eyed  and  inquiringly  before  that  large  assemblage, 
vainly  trying  to  imagine  the  scene  which  was  depicted 
in  the  church,  and  at  times  reaching  over  to  caress 
the  cold  forehead  of  her  loved  one.  In  pews  directly 
in  front  of  the  casket  sat  the  relatives,  the  brothers, 
George  and  Leo,  the  sister,  Mrs.  Iva  Harper,  the  nine- 
year-old  twin  girls  by  Mr.  Young's  first  marriage, 
Doris  and  June,  who  were  brought  here  by  their 
grandmother. 

Robed  klansmen  stood  guard  at  head  and  foot 
of  the  casket,  while  other  robed  men  guarded  doors 
and  performed  other  useful  duties.  The  altar,  chancel 
and  choir  loft  were  covered  with  beautiful  floral  offer- 
ings. Two  electric  fiery  crosses,  emblem  of  the  order 
in  charge  of  the  service,  cast  their  effulgent  rays 
softly  over  the  ensemble. 

For  two  hours  softly  beautiful  strains  floated  from 
the  pipe  organ  while  the  multitude  passed  through  the 
church.  Then,  at  nearly  five  o'clock,  the  pallbearers 
carried  the  casket  from  the  building,  it  was  placed  in 
the  hearse  and  the  procession  moved  slowly  forward, 
first  over  the  principal  down  town  streets  and  then 
out  the  long  road  to  the  cemetery. 

One  hundred  robed  klansmen  on  foot,  headed  by 
four  large  American  fiags,  preceded  the  six  pallbear- 
ers, robed  and  riding  horses  caparisoned  with  march- 
ing regalia.  Then  came  the  immediate  relatives  in  the 
Lincoln  sedan  still  bearing  its  scars  from  the  at- 
tempted assassination  of  S.  Glenn  Young  and  his  wife. 
A  long  line  of  sympathizing  friends  followed  in  auto- 


250  LIFE    AND     EXPLOITS     OF 


mobiles,  although  most  of  the  cars  had  preceded  the 
cortege  to  the  cemetery.  It  was  dusk  when  the  proces- 
sion started,  the  shades  of  night  had  fallen  long  be- 
fore the  slow  moving  footmen  had  reached  the  end  of 
the  line  of  march. 

The  klansmen  and  women  of  the  klan  filed  into  the 
roped  enclosure  after  the  two  truck  loads  of  flowers 
had  been  arranged  around  the  mausoleum.  The  offi- 
cers and  the  singers  gathered  under  the  canopy  erected 
over  the  vault,  and  the  beautiful  ceremony  proceeded. 
When  Rev.  Robert  Evans  of  East  St.  Louis,  personal 
friend  of  the  dead  man  and  leading  klansman,  had 
pronounced  the  eulogy  and  concluded  the  ceremony  by 
dropping  blooms  upon  the  casket,  the  curtain  of  night 
blotted  out  from  view  of  friends  and  foe  alike  the 
sealing  of  the  tomb,  and  the  last  act  in  the  life  of  S. 
Glenn  Young  had  come  to  its  dramatic  close.  With  the 
dying  strains  of  "Taps"  softly  echoing  in  their  ears, 
with  heavy  hearts  and  leaden  feet  the  hundreds  of 
loyal  friends,  who  had  remained  until  the  last,  set  their 
faces  homeward  to  take  up  the  burden  where  S.  Glenn 
Young  laid  it  down. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG  251 


OBITUARY 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  born  to  G€orge  B.  and  Eva 
Young  on  a  ranch  near  Long  Island,  Kansas,  on  March 
4th,  1886,  and  was  killed  in  Herrin,  Illinois,  on  Janu- 
ary 24th,  1925,  being  at  his  death  38  years,  10  months 
and  20  days  of  age. 

The  father,  who  now  resides  at  Medford,  Oregon, 
survives  him,  the  mother  passing  away  many  years 
ago.  Five  brothers  and  two  sisters  also  survive  him, 
viz:  George  B.  Jr.  of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa;  Leo  and 
and  Mrs.  Eva  Harper  of  Virgil,  S.D. ;  Roy  of  Taft,  Cali- 
fornia; Paul,  Wilhelmina  and  Phil,  of  Medford, 
Oregon. 

S.  Glenn  Young  was  married  to  Maude  Simcox, 
daughter  of  George  B.  and  Florence  Simcox,  whose 
later  home  has  been  at  Patoka,  Illinois,  on  July  5,  1921. 
Bobbie,  a  23-months'  old  son,  with  his  mother,  survive 
this  union. 

WTien  young  in  years,  Glenn  left  home  to  shift  for 
himself.  His  mother  being  a  Kansas  Prohibitionist 
and  his  father  a  United  States  marshal,  he  soon  was 
enlisted  in  the  Department  of  Justice  and  w^as  sent 
after  moonshiners  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  He 
continued  in  this  and  similar  work  until  three  years 
previous  to  the  World  War.  For  these  three  years  he 
pursued  the  study  of  medicine  at  Marquette  Univer- 
sity, at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  where  he  was  a  Greek  letter 
fraternity  man.  At  the  entrance  into  the  World  War 
by  the  United  States,  he  was  called  back  to  the  gov- 
ernment service  and  was  sent  into  the  south  after  draft 


252 LIFE     AXD     EXPLOITS     OF 

evaders  and  deserters.  Here  he  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  by  his  single-handed  exploits.  In  this 
work  he  is  said  to  have  brought  in  as  many  as  3,000 ; 
among  them  being  the  Rose  and  Crawley  gangs  that 
the  government  had  despaired  of  ever  bringing  in,  do- 
ing this  singlehanded  and  alone. 

Since  the  war  he  has  served  as  federal  prohibition 
officer;  as  an  investigator;  and  as  raider  of  bootleg 
joints. 

He  came  into  Williamson  county  some  fifteen 
months  ago  by  invitation  to  assist  in  cleaning  out  illicit 
liquor  selling  and  other  forms  of  vice  and  crime.  How 
well  he  has  served  and  how  well  the  work  has  been 
done,  the  day  both  declare. 

The  enmity  of  law-breakers  of  every  kind  had  been 
incurred  and  when  he  could  not  be  bought  off  his  death 
was  plotted  and  after  unsuccessful  attempts  was  fin- 
ally consummated  on  January  24th,  at  the  European 
Hotel,  Herrin. 

Neither  friend  or  foe  thought  of  Young  as  a  church 
man  and  yet  as  a  young  man  he  accepted  Christ  and 
united  with  the  Methodist  church  in  his  home  town  of 
Long  Island,  Kansas.  He  never  feared  death  and  al- 
ways expressed  himself  as  at  peace  with  his  Maker 
and  ready  to  be  offered  up,  if  needs  be,  for  his  coun- 
try's sake.  A  prominent  Italian-Catholic  has  said  of 
him  that  the  church  could  not  show  him  too  great  an 
honor,  as  he  did  church  work.  He  testified  to  a  life 
of  daily  prayer  and  when  possible  attended  divine  wor- 
ship ;  and  always  felt  his  work  to  be  a  Divine  Call. 
They  crucified  the  Master,  this  servant  felt  himself  not 
above  his  Lord. 


RAIDER    S.    GLENN    YOUNG 


253 


Address  All  Communications 

to 

MRS.   S.   GLENN  YOUNG, 

Herrin,  Illinois 


